Distinguished actress Christine Lahti's feature directorial debut…suffers from a touch too much structure and a script that pedals a tad too hard on sentimentality.
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10/15/01
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My First Mister (2001)
53
%
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Reviews Counted:79
Fresh:42
Rotten:37
Average Rating:5.6/10
Consensus: Though well-acted, My First Mister succumbs to contrived sentimentality in its last half.
Theatrical Release:Oct 12, 2001 Limited
Synopsis: A rebellious teenage girl (Leilee Sobieski) who dresses in Gothic garb and wears harsh metal jewelry in the piercings that cover her face, finds a friend in a conservative middle-aged man (Albert... [More]
Starring: Leelee Sobieski, Albert Brooks, Desmond Harrington, John Goodman
Director: Christine Lahti
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Reviews for My First Mister
Tumbles deep into tear-jerker territory, morphing into a disease-of-the-week movie wallowing in the most obvious messages.
10/14/01
Scene after scene suddenly rings with a resounding falseness [in the second half].
10/13/01
Convincingly reveals the transforming power of friendship to release us from fear, expand our hearts, and open us to the redemptive capacities of love.
10/13/01
When a movie starts out as trenchant as "Ghost World" then turns into something as mawkish as "Steel Magnolias," it's been botched, plain and simple.
10/13/01
Lahti and screenwriter Jill Franklyn take an ill-advised detour into sentimentality, and drive their movie straight off a cliff.
10/12/01
Although the movie has its moments, it's a tearjerker that jerks too hard.
10/12/01
Top CriticBeautiful and so phony it makes you urp.
10/12/01
Top CriticIf the girls in Ghost World were to see this one, they'd gag.
10/12/01
Top CriticWhat looked like a quirky character study suddenly congealed.
10/12/01
A touching tale of friendship and family, its sentimentality cut by the honesty of its performances.
10/12/01
A big-screen version of a turgid 'disease of the week' TV movie with an odd-couple twist.
10/12/01
Lahti and company create some nice moments and touches.
10/12/01
Harold & Maude it ain't.
10/12/01
Top CriticA coming-of-age story that gets it all wrong.
10/12/01
Top CriticThe plot ducks the obvious sexual pitfall that would make us squirm, but falls into another one: morbid uplift, out at the golden pond where dreams may come and you can sweetly pay it forward.
10/12/01
While the movie loads on too much sap in the final third, it is still a funny and moving first-time effort.
10/12/01
Of all the odd couples who inhabit film, surely among the most endearing are Jennifer and Randall.
10/12/01
Brooks' work in actress Christine Lahti's directing debut ... is the finest acting he's done since Broadcast News.
10/12/01
Top CriticOffers the curious experience of being able to believe in a screen full of first-rate actors yet not believe in anything that's happening to the people they're playing.
10/12/01
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