Then She Found Me

source: Then She Found Me

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

Although I've heard a lot of gushing about the quality of this movie, I was very disappointed in the final result! I think Hunt was trying to duplicate the tone and tempo of "As Good as It Gets", but as when most people try to duplicate anything, there is failure. I think Helen should stick to acting and forget about directing. Matthew Broderick's character was miscast and he never figured out who he was or even what he was doing in the film. Colin Firth wasn't allowed to reveal his true nature either. Bette Midler, a monumental talent was just under-used. All points to poor direction in my book. The touching moments are a bit maudlin and the funny parts aren't that funny. You can skip this one and rent it on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

"Then She Found Me" is an insult to the intelligence. At least with the "American Pie" and "Saw" franchises you know what you're in for. A cast like this leads one to expect some degree of quality -- or at least coherence. Wrong! Helen Hunt is an unsmiling, self-absorbed, masochistically willing victim. Matthew Broderick is meant to be a feckless Peter Pan but doesn't convey a scintilla of that. Bette Midler is woefully miscast in a role that completely ignores her comedic and dramatic talents. Colin Firth's character -- also grumpy and funereal in demeanor -- acts and reacts entirely without plausible motivation. John Benjamin Hickey flits around enigmatically like some latter-day Tinker Bell. It's as if all the characters were just put in front of the camera without directorial discussion of the movie's message, plot or intent. I'm not sure it's fair to blame Hunt (as director) because the screenplay is unrelievedly lousy. Not only is it poorly plotted, the "cute" dialog is in fact just plain dumb. This film will appeal only to those willing to suspend even subatomic levels of disbelief.

The first forty or so minutes of "Then She Found Me" are quite excellent, with Hunt showing impressive skill for a rookie director, the score standing out as quite good, and the acting being very good. The script is surprisingly funny for the most part, and has a sense of authenticity and realism that works in favor of the film. The main problem with the film going past the halfway mark is that little of any real interest is happening, and nothing really stands out. It's still amusing, still well-made, still not a bad film by any stretch of imagination, but there's also absolutely nothing that left me wanting to see it again. 6.5/10

Helen Hunt I always considered a very mediocre actress and general a miss cast in every production. I guess that makes me bias. When a bad actor is also a poor director and then casts her self as the lead character..now that is just aiming for disaster. And in all fairness it doesn't have to be, Ben Affleck: horrible actor-great director. The story, resembling a season of Days of our Lives in a nutshell doesn't become deeper than a wading pool and Hunt making painful faces makes just for a lot of smurking. On top of that character April Epner is so annoying that you don't understand why people are making any effort for her. Colin Firth looks way too young and too sparkly for his part. And although she keeps saying that she is 39, Hunt obviously is far too old for her part and looks it. Firth and Midler are playing her off the screen and wasting their talents here. Dreadful waste of time.

By far, the absolute *worst.* Helen Hunt, who I normally like, looks like something out of Dachou in this abomination, but I digress. Where to start, so many things were bad? Acting was passable, although Broderick was wooden and Midler hammy. But...what was the POINT? It just wanders aimlessly with no amchor, not even trying to be a syrupy mess like the unwatchable "Autumn in New York," which is what I was thinking about as I watched it. Bad, bad, bad. No real plot line to speak of. Everybody has the same affect, except when they were shouting at each other. Absurdities like the rejected daughter insisting her mother pony up thousands so she could have in vitro fertilization after a potentially fruitful storyline about being pregnant with her ex-husband's baby abruptly goes up in smoke. No real reason to care about anybody in this flick. Don't waste your time.

I found there to be truth in the fact that even in a small group of people, each had their own personal take on the same issue. For some reason, we need to know where we came from, almost as bad as where we are going. This is a movie that will move and entertain those that most relate to the problem. Especially if you have been responsible for the birth of a child that you have never made contact with, for whatever reason. The story line is also quirky enough to keep one interested. The one character that I especially had a hard time relating to was played by one of my favorite actors, Matthew Broderick. He has a Neil Simon rhythm that maybe he can't get away from. I really did like the way the movie allowed you the viewer to fill in the blanks for some things that other movies feel that they just can't take that chance. The eyes never lie. If you watch the young girl in Whale Ride you will know what I mean. In this movie, one of the leads just comes so close to being honest, and then she has to screw it up with acting. It is a small thing, but it is the essence of the character. Still enjoyed the movie.

A wonderfully moving picture. Very real and certainly deserving of higher rating than depicted. The story is real, the acting is poignant and heartfelt. Hunt, Midler, Broderick & Firth are superb. I watched it two nights in a row. This movie is for everyone who knows what it's like to yearn for children and for everyone who has become a parent. As the events unfold, you become attached to the characters and feel for each individual one of them. There are no favorites here, as each actor holds your attention equally in their respective roles. Such a beautiful film. Congratulations go out to Hunt and the whole team. It is so refreshing to watch a movie which has something to say.

We've all had our share of bad weeks and I've heard numerous times before that when it rains it pours but yet that still doesn't seem to account for what happened to April Epner (Helen Hunt). A mere ten months into her marriage to Ben (Matthew Broderick), he decides he made a huge mistake. The next day, she goes to work, a school where she and Ben both taught to primary students, to find that he never showed up and is nowhere to be found. Within the week that follows, her adopted mother (Lynn Cohen) dies and her birth mother (Bette Midler) makes contact with her for the first time. It's no wonder the bags under April's eyes are so heavy. Hunt's directorial debut, THEN SHE FOUND ME, begins so tragically but attempts then to lighten the mood with awkward comedy and untimely romance. The combination is a bizarre contradiction that just falls flat. It doesn't feel right to laugh just yet as there hasn't been time to mourn but we don't want to mourn either as we only just met these folks. We don't know how to feel or where to go and neither does the direction of the film. When the dust from April's disastrous week finally begins to settle, the film finally begins to breathe normally again and finds a particular charm in its decidedly neurotic voice. Still, it is more unsettling than it is satisfying. While Hunt may be overly sentimental as a director, she finds a certain harshness in her acting style that becomes the film's most unifying source. As put upon as she is at this juncture in her life, she manages to juggle everything reasonably well by balancing between protecting herself, demanding what she deserves and allowing her defenses down at just the right moments and only to those who deserve entry. The woman deserves happiness, be that in the form of a new love with troubled suitor, Frank (Colin Firth), or by realizing her longtime desire to have a child, but her life only gets continuously more complicated, sometimes by her own doing. I would ordinarily want to hug someone in April's position but mostly I just wanted to shake her. What ultimately undermines THEN SHE FOUND ME is its own air of self-loathing. Hunt spends so much time trying to incite sympathy for April by dumping so many hard realities on to her at once but then punishes her when all she has done is try to keep her head above water. It's hard to feel love for a face on the screen when the woman who put her there hasn't made up her mind herself.