Swingers(1996)

Swingers could be a hip movie, a Guys movie, great-sagacious-advice movie, a warm-amusing movie, this-is-what-friendship-is-about movie, or simply one of the most facetious for-a-lark flicks of the 90s. But whatever tag you wish to stick on it, this honest, low-budget humdinger from Liman is very very "money"!

Top 10 reasons to get your hands on this movie now:

(1) It's fast-paced, well edited (not one wasted scene) and frequently laugh-out-loud funny. If you hear people dismiss this as an inconsequential narrative about a "bunch of losers trying to get laid", I'm afraid they just have not watched the entire movie. I am not into the "Spy who shagged me" genre of humor, but this movie will truly grow on you.

(2) It'll ring a bell with almost anyone, particularly guys. Mike -a crestfallen loverboy (Jon Favreau) is in the throes of a breakup, and his confidence has hit rock bottom. (Sidenote: Favreau is a very ordinary looking guy, which in fact imho is the power of his character.) Under the aegis of his friend Trent (Vince Vaughn, in top form, a lot better than his controlled acting in, gulp, The Psycho) Mike re-learns how to get back up on his feet and take reins of his life/emotions again. While this happens, we are treated to a bunch of every-day faux pas that we all can identify with in a blink. Interested yet?

(3) The boys' camaraderie is infectious. If you watch this movie with friends -and this indeed is the best way to watch it! -you'll know what I mean. This has to be one of the most honest portrayals of relationships between friends -both the lover and the platonic variety.

(4) Call me weird but I loved the sound track, a delectable blend of underground jazz and triphop.

(5) Some of the "get back on your feet" dialogue for Mike is truly marvellous, and makes for better, more down-to-earth, more inspiring advice about life and relationships than Dr. Ruth and Oprah put together.

(6) An interesting look at the Los Angeles we never see in films, the underground life of the struggling actors and writers and less glamorous people, not living in Malibu opulence as seen in other weaker films.

(7) Some great Sega Genesis NHL ice-hockey "footage" (to use a dignified term) and an unusual preview of seeing Gretzky's head knocked.

(8) This is to men what "Sex and the City" is to women. (Ok, SATC has had a lot more time than Swingers to entice us with the workings of the Modern Woman, but you get the idea)

(9) A wide assortment of one-liners for you to conveniently plagiarize from. Not seen in a single movie since Roxanne with Steve Martin.

(10) Oh, and it's so laid back, its horizontal. No spiffy visual FX, no crash boom bang, no cheap frills. But still a high handsome homerun.

Required Viewing.

It's shocking to see, here on Amazon, that this movie only grossed $5 million in the theaters. Swingers has gone on to become an incredibly popular movie. It made Vince Vaughn's career as an actor and defined Jon Favreau's career both as an actor and as a writer.

This is the kind of movie that every man can relate to on at least one level. Most men can probably relate to both of the main characters: each representing one side of us in our dealings with women. On the one hand, the sensitive man who isn't afraid to reveal himself and on the other hand, the player, who doesn't have any pretentions and makes no apologies for his brash behavior. Both are real and both have their pros and cons. They are both well-represented in Swingers.

I first saw this movie when I was about 17 years old. I loved the characters and I loved the flow of the movie, but I find that when I watch it now (in my mid-20s), I appreciate it on a whole different level. For those of us who are shy and reserved, this movie almost makes you want to come out of your shell. It can almost be called "inspirational" in how it will goad you to get the hell out there are let it all hang out. Great lines are delivered throughout the script. Mike and Trent compliment each other very well and they have some great scenes together.

This is an indie-film classic. The kind of movie that you never get tired of.

Buy Swingers(1996) Now

"Your Money, your so Money, you don't even know your Money!"

Classic, great everyday, anyday movie. If your in a rainy day mood its "Money", break-up with your girlfriend mood, its "Money", and last but not least ... Showing allllll the "Pretty Babies" you have this movie in your collection ... "MONEY" !!!!!

Read Best Reviews of Swingers(1996) Here

One day I saw a glimpse of a scene from the movie Swingers. It was the "is she looking at me now? No. She hasn't looked at you all night..." scene. That was the only scene I saw and I thought, "That looks kinda funny. I should see it one day." When I finally saw it, "That looks kinda funny" was a definite understatement. That movie kept my friends and I in stitches all night. It wasn't for sale on video yet, so I spent a small fortune renting it about three times a month. All my friends and I could see ourselves in that movie. I was the Mikey of my group because my girlfriend had broken up with me six months before I saw this masterpiece and I was still broken up about her. If you can't get over your break up with a girl, and are looking for a replacement, but with no luck, you MUST see this movie. It spoke to me and now I use it as my guide for life. Whenever you feel depressed about beautiful babies not going for you, flip this movie on and check it out. You'll feel better, guaranteed.

Want Swingers(1996) Discount?

"Swingers" really reminded me of "Good Will Hunting" in that it was written by and stars struggling actors who decided to go out and create their own success. It is a low-budget gabfest type movie, with no real action taking place; but it is a fun, highly entertaining film nonetheless. The plot revolves around five struggling actors in L.A., who go from party to party looking for "beautiful babies" and career opportunities. They are sort of a modern "rat pack", led by the fast-talking and charismatic Trent (Vince Vaughn, who carries the movie with a star-making performance). "Swingers" features hilarious, witty writing and some enjoyable performances from its up-and-coming stars. We are so entertained by their antics that we forget that nothing really signifficant is happening. Credit is due for spawning some great catch phrases too. The DVD doesn't come with any great special features. It comes in widescreen format with a theatrical trailer. The soundtrack is worth owning for lovers of great swing-jazz music. Overall a great movie and a good investment.

Read More >>

Legally Blonde (2011)

I've been reviewing items for Amazon for a little over a year and a half, now. One of the things that I still don't quite understand is how Amazon picks its "Spotlight Reviews."

Sometimes those Reviews are great. But, sometimes...

Okay. Here are excerpts from the current Spotlight Reviews for this film (though they may be different by the time you read this):

"I was disappointed by this film. I was hoping it was going to be a satire, a la 'Clueless'. When I realized in the first 15 minutes or so that it was not, then I at least hoped it would be funny in any kind of way (e.g. dumb funny). Well, it didn't even do that." -First Spotlight Review

"As a blonde myself, I really should have been offended by this feature-length blonde joke, but hey, this flick is first-rate fluff.The script is surprisingly smart for fluff and is a huge reason for the success of this extended blonde joke. For mindless entertainment, you can't beat this film. 'Legally Blonde' is one of those guilty pleasures you might hate to admit having. Remember, you can always watch it in the privacy of your own home." -Second Spotlight Review (from a "Top 100 Reviewer" no less)

Uh...

Maybe it's me.

But I don't think that either of these two reviewers get this film. Legally Blonde is not a movie trying to make fun of blondes. What would even be the point of that? Nor is it a "dumb comedy," nor is it trying to be. It is not an extended blonde joke. It is not mindless. Nor is, as the second above reviewer mentioned in her write-up, the main character (Elle) mindless.

In fact, the point of the film is that she has a mind. The point is that, despite being blonde and pretty, she still has other skills and abilities (and an incredible amount of compassion and kindness) that people unfairly overlook or dismiss. This is a movie with a heart, a mind, and, my friends, a message. The message isn't devastatingly clever or anything like that, but it's a good, solid one, nonetheless. And, it appears to have been too subtle for the reviewers quoted above.

Usually, this kind of movie is about a nerd or other outcast who falls in love with a beauty and gets unfairly discriminated against by the popular kids on account of his appearance, etc. This is the exact same film, except the roles are reversed. In this movie, the beautiful, pampered prima-donna is trying her darndest to fit in with the smart kids (the nerds) but is constantly rejected on the basis of the same sorts of shallow, prejudicial judgements from which they typically suffer. When she competes for an internship, everyone assumes that she won't have the brains to pull it off. When she gets that internship based on her skills, people assume that she must have slept her way to the top. Along the way, she is constantly humiliated and made fun of, on a large part based on the color of her hair and the way she dresses. We're not supposed to be laughing at her, people; we're supposed to be sympathizing with her (unless, like the cruel "nerds" she encounters, we're too tied up in people's looks).

Whether or not you're particularly receptive to it, this movie is trying to say that we all suffer from rejection, ostracization and prejudice--even the pretty and popular.

Even though the Spotlight Reviews here on Amazon might not reflect the fact, this is not a "mindless extended blonde-joke," nor is it a failed Clueless; this is a story about an outsider fighting for love and struggling to fit in, and yes, she happens to be blonde and pretty and wear lots of pink. To understand it, I guess, requires at least as much heart as the film was made with.

Let me begin by saying I am not normally a fan of the "Clueless" type character, but this is far from what I expected going into this movie. Reese Witherspoon's character "Elle" is a sweet, funny, smart and completely likeable character and has you caring for her and rooting for her to win and prove everyone wrong. After being dumped by her boyfriend Warner because he thought she wasn't smart enough for a future lawyer or senator, she follows him to Harvard determined to win him back. While she struggles with fitting in, she slowly wins over several of her classmates, and proves she is no dumb blonde. This movie is fun, and well worth seeing. I was skeptical about this movie, but don't let the trailer and bad critic reviews turn you off of this bright and funny film.

Buy Legally Blonde (2011) Now

Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) is a perky, popular blonde who expects her boyfriend will propose to her the night the movie starts but instead he dumps her because he thinks she's not smart enough and he'll need a smart woman if he wants to run for political office by the time he's 30. Elle loves him and figures the way to get him back is to prove to him that she's smart and to do that, she figures the perfect way would be to get into Harvard Law School where coincidentally her now ex-boyfriend is going. She takes an exam and makes a video for Harvard to see. Surprisingly, she ends up getting in. She doesn't fit in there since her Harvard class-mates are more laid back with their clothing and attitude then Elle is. Elle finds out that her ex-boyfriend has dumped her for a girl that he dated before her. He even calls his new girl the pet name that he used for Elle right in front of Elle. Still Elle is determined to win her man back. To do that, she applies for and gets an internship with her professor's law firm. Her ex-boyfriend and his current girlfriend are on the team too. They help in a case of a woman accused of killing her husband. The woman accused of murder is the person who used to teach Elle's exercise class. Elle knows she's innocent but no one on the team thinks so. Can Elle save her former exercise teacher and prove to her ex-boyfriend, her Harvard Law associates and herself that she's not a dumb blonde? She had gotten straight As and was articulate. If she had been doing poorly and was a bad speaker and then suddenly improved when she got into Harvard, it would have been less believable though a fashion major getting in Harvard Law is still a stretch. It's a very cute movie. It seemed like it could have even gotten a G rating. It might have had a couple profanities but that was it. No sex or violence. The movie was much better than I thought it would be. It was cleverly written in some parts and Reese Witherspoon gave a great performance in it.

Read Best Reviews of Legally Blonde (2011) Here

Buy this movie! Seriously, it is one of the best movies I have ever seen, and most of my friends and family fully support that opinion. So take a chance and buy it!

Reese Witherspoon makes a steller performance as Elle Woods, a drop-dead gorgeous blonde, ditzy as can be, who basically comes to one day and decides to attend Harvard Law School. Why? Because becoming a law student is the only way to win back the love of Warner Huntington III (played by hunk Matthew Davis). And suprisingly, she manages to convince the Harvard admittance committee that her brains . . . or assets . . . will make her an excellent addition to the school. Once she gets to Harvard, however, Elle is shocked to learn that everyone does NOT love her. She faces hard classes for which she is expected to prepare, a professor who tosses her out of class, and finally discovers that Warner got engaged over the summer to a preppy Eastern girl. But Elle is up to the challenge, rocketing to stardom even as a 1L (first-year law student to those not in the club).

My 5-star recommendation comes from my love of a good lawyer joke, and the ability to laugh at our profession. And this movie definitely does that. You get to see that law school is filled with tough classes, hard profs, nasty law students, and stretching one to one's limits. But you also see a woman with a truly good heart rise above all the pettiness she faces, and succeed by being true to herself. A truly enjoyable time for everyone watching.

Want Legally Blonde (2011) Discount?

.... ...my friend Joyce and I went ...and had a grand time. The number one reason to see the movie is Reese Witherspoon. I've been watching her since her first film, "Man In the Moon," a solid dramatic movie. She showed incredible talent in that film, that continued to show itself in every film of hers to date. This is Witherspoon acting on the entire other end of the spectrum, in very broad comedy, and she pulls it off. She plays Elle, a beauty queen, sorority president and blonde Bel Aire, CA, girl who everyone assumes is a dumb blonde. However, she has a 4.00, albeit in fashion merchandising. When her boyfirend dumps her because she doesn't fit his image for his girlfriend while he's going to Harvard Law School, she applies to the same school and gets in with her 4.0 and high LSATs. She shows up with all of her sorority sensibility and frou frou clothing and accessories and becomes the butt of all the intellectuals' (everyone elses') jokes. How can she get her former boyfriend to see her as an equal at Harvard and will she want him when she does? This is the jist of the movie and it stretches credibility greatly. However, it is a great comic vehicle for Witherspoon and she milks it for all it is worth. When we saw it, it was the #1 movie in the USA and I was so glad that all of her solid work over the years had finally paid off in an enormous hit for her.

Save 54% Off

Read More >>

Goats (2011)

"Goats" tracks its main character Ellis Whitman (Graham Phillips), a 15-year-old Arizonan as he leaves the gorgeous desert compound his addled New Age mother Wendy (Vera Farmiga), has decamped to with her trust fund. Ellis has spent much of his early formative years taking treks and toking down with Goat Man, aka Javier, (David Duchovny) with whom he smokes copious amounts of grass and generally hangs out.

Ellis heads to an equally gorgeous New England prep school his own absent straitlaced rich father Frank (Ty Burrell) once attended. In fact, his dad had roomed there with the current headmaster, and so the bar is set high for Ellis. He smokes his courses (cut off from his cannabis connection), meets up with other potheads at the school, runs cross-country after some coercion from the hip track coach, declines a liaison with local dining-hall staffer Minnie (Dakota Johnson), who spends her time reading and making extra money off the student bodies. Ellis initially runs afoul of his father Frank during a terse, tense Thanksgiving, but later the pair find their peace and bond.

Ellis has to decide where to spend summer break, back in Arizona or with his dad, his step mother, and infant half brother.

Well, the critics pretty much gleefully savaged this Sundance film, citing its meandering plot, lack of action, and hybridized comedy-drama tone and comparing the actors and the plot to goats. Cynics are always ready with barbs, but I have to say, this is a fun movie when you don't want 3D special effects, overbearing soundtracks, mutilation and mayhem, and twisted plot lines. In other words, "Goats" affords one the chance to just kick back, watch a story without any secret message or theme. It's just a twisted tale, not a study in realism, about choices, growing up, and growing out. We have all done it in one way or another, and the point here is that there is always a story, even if it is not a cautionary tale or sex romp.

It is not a classic movie, but it is a classic case of what happens when critics drip spleen and venom without considering maybe the point of the movie is to meander. I don't think the goats care one way or another but I enjoyed watching it on a Saturday evening.

What? I saw this at Sundance, where everyone loved it, then I read a bunch of bad reviews on-line and thought there must be another film called "Goats." I mean, the poster and the DVD cover are kind of cheesy, but the film is really strong.

I watched it again on PPV a few weeks ago and it was as good as I remembered.

Funny and not too boisterous or obvious, this film snuck up on me and the 1500 other people at Sundance, and turned out to be a real charmer. Duchovny is kind of genius as Goat Man, both weird and believable. I liked Justin Kirk a lot, too, and Ty Burrell's nervous restraint is fun to watch.

Buy Goats (2011) Now

This is quite a different atmosphere for a coming of age story through and around ... Goats? Yes. Christopher Neil directs this film with charming style and abundant laughs. I was trepidatious about renting this one. While this may not be to everybody's liking, it works all the way around for me.

This movie is really about 15 year old Ellis (Graham Phillips) who is surrounded by a most colorful family. He is ready to go his own way from Tucson to Gates Prep School on the East Coast; the same school his father, Frank (Ty Burrell), went to before him and the area where he has been living now.

His mother, whom he calls Wendy by name, (Vera Farmiga, who shines in this) is a mix of the spiritual and New Age philosophies floating around in her own self-absorbed reality. If you can rope in Wendy's personality in a couple of sentences you are far better spoken than I.

Goat Man (David Duchovny) or Javier, take your pick, is a 'botanist' and an experienced goat-trekker, who is hired by Wendy to keep up the place along with her. Residing in the pool house, he tends to his ever growing garden and ... goats. These two have raised Ellis in an offbeat style, along with a huge amount love. Once you do get to know them they quickly become very genuine.

Quite simply, Ellis leaves for school and is greeted with an alternate way of life that he easily learns to excel in. While there, he meets up with his father for the first time in years of absence; he has been avoiding his ex-wife Wendy.

Frank is re-married to Judy (Keri Russell) now, with a baby brother on the way. Their lifestyle is easily recognizable as affluent. While Ellis' father may first appear emotionally vacant, Judy (being much younger) is right on target with Ellis and readily able to befriend him to bridge the gap between father and son.

Wendy stays behind with Goat Man and takes up with a new jealous lover Bennett (Justin Kirk perfect in this). He screens every call and doesn't give Ellis' messages to Wendy, he wouldn't being the convincingly arrogant prig that he is. They lose touch, because of his interference, and Wendy loses control going more into her spiritual side, well, her altogether self (?)

In this film, watch a Thanksgiving dinner (ala Wendy) take on new meaning with Goat Man, Bennett and several others present. Ellis chooses to go to Frank's home. ... Wendy didn't get that phone call either ...

*Also a nice cameo appearance with Minnie Driver if you catch it.

This indie film plays out as one set-up after another onto some depth and hilarity, in a much more subtle way than hysterical. Like the other reviewers, I agree with the 'sit back and enjoy' theme of Ellis' journey to find himself. This movie is one that you wouldn't need to overthink, analyze or anything ... but laugh.

As far as Goat Man ... "He knows the desert well and he'll be fine"

{If there is any questioning of the Minnie Driver cameo, while streaming you can catch a great shot of her at 01:34:05}

Read Best Reviews of Goats (2011) Here

Great film, acting was amazing. Nice to see David Duchoveny again. Vera Formiga and the young boy were equally excellent.

Want Goats (2011) Discount?

A very entertaining film, which I would highly recommend. Filmed in the Tucson area and very well made. I assume it is R for the use of weed, but would be fine for teens.

Save 52% Off

Read More >>

Then She Found Me (2008)

(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)Released earlier this year, Baby Mama covers the same emotional territory but in much broader slapstick terms, while this 2008 serio-comedy is driven far more by character than situation. In this case, the protagonist is 39-year-old April Epner, a New York kindergarten teacher who was raised in a close-knit Jewish family and desperately wants the biological connection of a birth child before her alarm clock goes off. She marries fellow teacher Ben, an inarticulate schlub with a terminal case of the Peter Pan Syndrome. After a brief time, he wants out of the marriage, and at almost the same time, April's adoptive mother Trudy dies. Not even a month goes by before April's biological mother suddenly shows up in the form of the brazenly overbearing but genuinely likeable Bernice Graves, a cable talk-show hostess who is something of a local media celebrity. If life was not complicated enough, April also finds herself drawn to Frank, the single father of one of her pupils. Unlike Ben, he feels the same about April but is fighting his own bitterness about his own recent divorce.

Not only does Helen Hunt star as April, but she also co-wrote the screenplay with Alice Arlen and Victor Levin and makes her big-screen directorial debut. Granted she's more impressive as an actress than a filmmaker, but as a director and writer, she makes the most of a storyline that stacks the deck a bit like a Lifetime TV-movie. There are enough realistic surprises that take the plot off the rails in a good way. Looking gaunt and avoiding much make-up, Hunt is really playing a variation of the beaten-down waitress she played in As Good As It Gets, as she carries that same constantly pained expression of disappointment and looks about to explode during moments of emotional duress. However, a decade later, Hunt inhabits the character more naturalistically this time and with a deeper sense of vulnerability and haggard exhaustion. Perhaps to minimize any unnecessary dramatic risk, Hunt cast the other principal roles with actors playing familiar parts. Matthew Broderick effectively portrays Ben as the perpetually dazed man-child he is, while perennial love interest Colin Firth gives texture to the seemingly ideal suitor Frank, especially as he edges toward the breaking point in tolerating the sum of April's foibles.

In one of her increasingly rare screen appearances, Bette Midler gives a scene-stealing performance as Bernice. She lights up the movie with the character's unfettered sense of abandonment while gradually exposing the secrets that threaten to undermine her newly found relationship with her daughter. Other parts are played with minimum fuss Ben Shenkman as April's physician brother Freddy feeling put-upon for having a biological tie to their mother, and Salman Rushdie (yes, the controversial author of The Satanic Verses which brought him a death sentence from the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989) as April's doctor. Hunt provides the principal actors, especially herself, plenty of good, meaty scenes with opportunities for bravura moments, and they do deliver. It just doesn't quite come together as a whole by the end, and that may be that Hunt is so used to the sitcom format of the long-running series, Mad About You. The incomplete result is that some laughs feel a bit contrived, some scene transitions seem jarring, and some expected character revelations are given short shrift. Nonetheless, the dramatic developments toward the end carry the emotional impact necessary to make the movie truly affecting, and Hunt should be given full credit for a most auspicious debut as a filmmaker.

In a featurette on the DVD release version of THEN SHE FOUND ME writer (with Alice Arlen and Victor Levin) /producer/director Helen Hunt shares a ten year journey to have a film made of a novel by Elinor Lipman. Her cast shares in the very sentimental story of Hunt's devotion and seemingly endless charisma and abilities. The explanation for making this budget film are in many ways more successful than the film, a work the cast seems determined to classify as a comedy but a work that is far more a human drama.

April Epner (Helen Hunt) is married to fellow schoolteacher Ben Green (Matthew Broderick) and longs to have a baby before her advancing age prevents her dream. April was adopted as an infant by a Jewish couple who subsequently gave birth to April's brother Freddy (Ben Shenkman): April has always longed to have been Freddy's biological equal, wondering what it would feel like NOT to be adopted. April's busy life implodes: Ben has decided he doesn't like his life and leaves April, April's mother dies, April meets Frank (Colin Firth) a recently divorced writer and father of two children, and April is contacted by a man who can put April in touch with her birth mother popular TV talk show hostess Bernice Graves (Bette Midler). And if these turns of events weren't traumatic enough, April discovers that she has become pregnant by Ben and Ben is unsure whether he can handle the restructuring of his life to accommodate April. Cautiously April and Frank begin a rather tenuous courtship which is almost immediately threatened by April's discovery of her pregnant state. April and Bernice meet, exchange backgrounds, and make pacts to test their biologic relationship. How each of these characters makes promises that eventually damage each other and then resolve in unexpected ways becomes a study of the meaning of love and compassion among fragile human beings.

While not a satisfying story on every level and a film too cluttered with inconvenient editing choices, the cast is strong and obviously committed, and the story (neither a comedy or a drama but a mixture of the two) tests credibility. But there are some fine moments and the lessons in human behavior are worth examining. Not a great movie but a strong little small budget film. Grady Harp, September 08

Buy Then She Found Me (2008) Now

Ok, I tried. I really, really tried not to compare the movie with the book. I loved the book, a tender, poignant journey of love in which April, albeit unwillingly, learns to accept the difficult person who gave birth to her and slowly learns the devastating truth of her past. But Elinor Lipman says she does not mind the fact that Helen Hunt basically took her book and scissored away everything but a few names and the center plot of the book, and came up with this idiotic film about ticking biological clocks instead.

But I have to wonder, how can she not mind? This hash of a movie bears little resemblance to what it was based on, so why did Helen Hunt not just find someone to write a new screenplay about a woman who wanted to have a baby? Why did she take a brilliant story, with fabulous characters, and turn it into this really rather dumb movie?

In the book, Bernice is difficult but ultimately complex and suprisingly sympathetic by the end, but Bette Midler's Bernice is just a cardboard cutout of the same person. And it's a shame, because Midler would have played the "real" Bernice beautifully if she had had a decent script to work with. And in the book, April is a bit uptight, but not the brittle, haggard neurotic that is portrayed here. And while Colin Firth is, as usual, great to look at, his character is poorly written as well. The male "hero" of the book, Dwight, and his relationship with April, are so appealing, that I cannot believe these two annoying men and their shallow interactions with the main character are supposed to replace that.

I did give this movie two stars because I liked Salman Rushdie playing the part of the doctor and I liked the sweet little twist at the end. But the whole time I watched it, I couldn't help thinking of the wonderful book at home on my shelf and asking, "Why, oh why, did someone have to screw it up so very badly?"

Read Best Reviews of Then She Found Me (2008) Here

I didn't like this movie at all. It had a cast of actors that I normally enjoy but the way they were cast and the dialogue they were given made me dislike their on-screen characters. Hunt herself looks practically elderly and she is supposed to be an attractive 39 year old. Broderick is as whiny and creepy as everything I've seen him in lately. Colin Firth was erratic and outright ugly most of the time as if they told him to just act as angry and frazzled as possible. The actors only flesh out their roles briefly here and there and are cardboard cutouts most of the time especially Helen in the lead role. Only Bett Midler's character had any actual life and energy in her. She brought some fresh air, even some heart, to her scenes but it wasn't enough to cast off the gray that hung over this film. If you want to see what it looks like to have life dump on shallow people then watch this film. If you want to see a strong character push through the challenges of life and rise above their circumstances you may be, like me, disappointed. I do think this is one of those love it or hate it films and for me it was the latter.

Want Then She Found Me (2008) Discount?

From the beginning of the movie, to about three-quarters of the way through, when I ejected it--I kept telling myself "it's got to get better"--it never did. There wasn't a single character that "grabbed me"--and at least two that finally caused me to push the eject button.

Does Helen Hunt ever play a role where the audience isn't glaringly aware that it's Helen Hunt on the screen? She whines and chews her way through every line of dialogue until the hair on my arms stands on end. She never deviates: A Good Woman and Then She Found Me--these are very different movies--you'd think she'd do something different with the characters (to fit the time and the place in which the story takes place). I've made a pact with myself--no more movies with Ms. Hunt. This one was the last.

Save 44% Off

Read More >>