Sunday, May 11, 2008
A+E, Movies, Reviews

Helen Hunt no find as a director

Review of 'Then She Found Me'

Courtesy of THINKFilm
Colin Firth and Helen Hunt in “Then She Found Me”

“THEN SHE FOUND ME”
Helen Hunt, Bette Midler
Directed by Helen Hunt
Rated R
Landmark Midtown Art Cinema

“Then She Found Me,” Helen Hunt’s feature directorial debut, is a comedy-drama with a mix of moods meant to be as messy as real life. “Messy” describes this movie well, not just the mood swings but everything from Hunt’s hair (her total lack of vanity is admirable) to script details.

It’s a bad year for April Epner (Hunt). Her husband Benjamin (Matthew Broderick) leaves her just when she’s obsessing about trying to have a baby, and her adoptive mother passes away. But candidates quickly arise to replace both of them.

First, April meets Frank (Colin Firth), the recently abandoned father of one of her students, and there’s at least enough spark for a double-rebound affair. Then local TV personality Bernice Graves (Bette Midler) claims to be April’s birth mother. As if that’s not enough change, April gets pregnant, and Benjamin wants to come back into her life, though maybe not all the way.

Poor Bette Midler has to act manic depressive, bouncing between her sincere, overwhelmingly maternal “Stella” mode and funny moments when her old campy self shines through. Hunt has lighter moments, too, but is more often overly intense. Hunt doesn’t show much promise as a director, especially while playing the lead at the same time: Another director would have told her when to bring it down a notch. 

 “Then She Found Me” has enough enjoyable moments to offset the flat ones (and some painfully bad ones). So much of the content is aimed at gays and Jews, it plays like a Broadway show produced by the Lifetime Channel. 2.5 STARS—Steve Warren