Then She Found MeFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Then She Found Me is a 2007 film, directed and starring Helen Hunt, that was adapted from a 1990 novel by Elinor Lipman. The film was released in Canada in 2007 and in the United States in 2008. It is Hunt's directorial debut.
The film also stars Colin Firth, Bette Midler and Matthew Broderick. Famed writer Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, appears in a cameo role as a gynecologist.
Cast:
* Helen Hunt – April Epner
* Colin Firth – Frank
* Bette Midler – Bernice Graves
* Matthew Broderick – Benjamin "Ben" Green
* Lynn Cohen – Trudy Epner
* Ben Shenkman – Dr. Freddy Epner
* Edie Falco – Herself
* Janeane Garofalo – Herself
* Tim Robbins – Himself
Plot Summary:
April Epner (Helen Hunt) is a 39-year-old elementary school teacher and adult adoptee whose life is changing rapidly as the movie begins. April longs for a child, but she and her husband Ben (Matthew Broderick) have been unsuccessful in their attempts to conceive. Her adoptive mother tries to persuade her to adopt a child.
Then, the day after Ben abruptly leaves her, her adoptive mother passes away.
Into her life steps her birth mother Bernice Graves (Bette Midler), who had abandoned her when she was an infant. Bernice is suddenly anxious to get to know her long-lost daughter. April resists the idea, annoyed that she was abandoned.
Bernice, an exuberant woman with her own TV talk show, initially claims that April was fathered by Steve McQueen. This turns out to be a lie. While her relationship with Bernice develops, April struggles to reconcile her lingering feelings toward her husband with a new man in her life, Frank (Colin Firth), the father of one of her students.
The situation is complicated when April has a brief affair with Ben while seeing Frank (and pregnant with Ben's child at this stage). Frank reacts to this with anger, and they break up.
The plot is resolved as April works through her feelings for and relationships with Ben, Frank, and Bernice.
Then She Found MeDirected by Helen Hunt
Average customer review:
Product Description
An all-star cast with memorable performances by Helen Hunt, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler and Colin Firth powers this smart, funny drama about love and destiny. Desperate to start a family, schoolteacher April Epner (Hunt) is thrown into confusion when she is unexpectedly abandoned by her husband (Broderick). She gets another shock when she meets her unusual birth mother (Midler), a self-centered talk show host who's not exactly the ideal mom. At first she rejects her, along with the attentions of a divorced dad (Firth), but then she begins to find her life opening up in ways she had never imagined.
- Amazon Sales Rank: #203 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-02
- Rating: R (Restricted)
- Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
- Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Original language: English, Hebrew
- Subtitled in: Spanish
- Number of discs: 1
- Running time: 100 minutes
Amazon.com
Like all the most intriguing titles, Then She Found Me lends itself to multiple interpretations. Does "she" refer to New York talk-show host Bernice (Bette Midler, in a welcome return to the screen), the self-proclaimed birth parent who enters the life of schoolteacher April (Oscar winner Helen Hunt) upon the death of her adoptive mother? Or does the pronoun refer to April, who meets divorced dad Frank (Colin Firth) the day her marriage to co-worker Ben (Matthew Broderick) comes to an abrupt halt? The surprising conclusion to Hunt's directorial debut suggests a third interpretation. In adapting Elinor Lipman's novel, Hunt treads well-worn ground, but does so with grace and sensitivity. When Ben walks out on his 39-year-old wife, she fears he's left with her chances of having a baby. As much as she enjoyed her childhood, April would prefer not to adopt, and with the support of her non-adopted brother, Freddy (Ben Shenkman), she struggles to reconcile her warm feelings towards the awkward Frank with her chilly reaction to the slippery Bernice. Though April has a hard time imagining they could be related, the teacher and the TV personality both want children in their lives, so it's not as if they lack a common bond. When April finds out she's pregnant, further complications ensue. Though Then She Found Me circles Lifetime movie-of-the-week territory, Hunt resists the urge to smooth away her characters’ rough edges, investing her film with the crackle of real life. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Customer Reviews
Not what I expected
I rented that movie mainly because of Colin Firth. Well.. what was he doing in that boring movie? An actor of his calibre deserves much better roles than that. The story is not captivating at all, so much so that my husband slept half through it, and it's a miracle I watched it till the end...hoping for a miracle that din't happen. Such a disappointing movie!
Sad movie
I think that it is very sad that Colin Firth will take up any role as long as he is paid for it. For me his 1994 movie "The Playmaker" is an example of that. Now I can add another movie "Then she found me" to this list. Dialogue is strained and not flowing too well. There is no fire between him and Helen Hunt. Even with tons of makeup on her face, she looks older than the supposed age of mid forties. If you do not believe me, look at the movie ratings, it has not been out for 2 weeks and its sales rating is above 200.
Pleasantly surprised
I was pleasantly surprised. I found Hunt's directoral debut at least as wonderful as Sarah Polley's (and the critics swooned over her effort) and the acting in Then She Found Me just as good as in Away From Me - if not better. I like 'little films' that don't try to be more than they are and that 'stay in character' themselves(Gods and Monsters comes to mind) and here the directing was sweet and even(great mood music) and dialogue quite touching and very sharp in places, (expecially where April makes up with the Colin character.. Don't recall that in the book. Wonderful!) In the book, if I recall, Midler's part was 'over the top' but this actress was nicely restrained to suit the movie's mood, the love interest in the book, again, if I recall was homely, (Fred Gwynne came to mind when I read it) but Firth's more fun to look at than Mr. Munster and in this movie he's closer to his Fever Pitch character than the stuff upper class Brit one..... indeed, this movie shows a different side of him. I actually purchased this as soon as it was out on CD because a friend had seen the movie in the cinema and remarked on Firth's different turn. But what I was reminded of, most, watching this film is that Hunt is an amazing actress, and there are many unforgettable moments from her in this movie.
