Academy Award-winning actress Helen Hunt makes her feature directorial debut with this adaptation of Elinor Lipman's best-selling novel about a Philadelphia schoolteacher (Hunt) whose long-lost birth mother (Bette Midler) reappears at the very moment her daughter is careening into a midlife crisis. Abandoned by her husband (Matthew Broderick) and still grieving the death of her adoptive mother, the emotionally fragile teacher enters into a relationship with the father of one of her students just
as her biological mother, an eccentric talk-show host, appears on her doorstep attempting a reconciliation. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
A few plot turns too many undermine Helen Hunt's Then She Found Me, and that's too bad, because Hunt shows some nice touches here both in front of and behind the camera.
Trying to establish a serio-comic tone is a task best suited for seasoned directors. Given that a boom microphone drops into the film frame at least twice, Hunt has more basic production elements to master.
Everyone acts decently and you have to praise Hunt for her tenacity. But this suffers from some fairly dire cinematography and a manufactured air that prevents the watcher connecting to the whole thing.
Hunt's lovely voice, pitched in that diurnal-dizzy limbo between mezzo and soprano, is perfect for mid-life crisis. So is her gawky, strung-out, tragicomical body language.
This is not without its attractions - an occasionally waspishly witty script and some unexpected dramatic tangents - but the characters never seem more than a casually bagged collection of tics and mannerisms.
If you are a romantic, you will like this movie. The main characters are all going through major changes in their lives - April's marriage is falling apart and the is 39 with no kids; Bernice is feeling left out of the daughter she gave up as an infant; Frank is having difficulty raising his kids. The movie takes all
these issues and more and ties them up in a neat bow.
The movie has a good cast, a ton of perspectives about love, life, relationships and the seeds parents sow. If your looking for a film with acoustic guitars, family matters, and good tempo without being unrealistic then watch "Then She Found Me".
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