Knight at the Movies Archives
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Helen Hunt's directing debut gives Bette Midler (and herself) their best roles in years, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in a familiar but
funny gal pal flick
funny gal pal flick
With Then She Found Me Helen Hunt steps into rare company – she’s one of the few women to star and direct themselves in a
movie. It’s a pleasure to report that Hunt’s directing debut is as assured and oddly compelling as the material upon which it’s
based, the chick lit novel by Elinor Lipman. Like Hunt’s favorite acting tic this is a movie that squints every once in awhile, allowing
you to contemplate the characters and leaving you with a wry smile once you’ve had a chance to mull it over. It also offers Hunt and
her co-star Bette Midler their most satisfying parts in years.
Hunt plays April Epner a grade school teacher who as the movie gets going is sandbagged left and right by an avalanche of bad
luck. Just as she’s decided she wants a baby her husband Ben (Matthew Broderick) announces that he’s unhappy and is leaving
their marriage, then April’s adopted mother dies. In the midst of dealing with the fallout of the end of her marriage she gets hit on
by Frank (Colin Firth), the father of one of her young charges. But April is so upset about Ben walking out she barely takes notice.
Then April is confronted at school by Alan (out actor John Benjamin Hickey), who is the gay assistant for local talk show hostess
Bernice Graves (Midler). Alan informs April that Bernice is her birth mother and would like to get to know her. Without much warning,
Bernice, a woman used to having the way smoothed for her does her best to integrate herself into April’s life. Only April’s not quite
sure what that life looks like or feels like anymore. Slowly, she begins to sort out the wheat from the chaff. April begins a tentative
relationship with Frank that quickly heads toward the deep end while at the same time going up and down with Bernice. But when
April discovers she’s pregnant, with either Frank or Ben the father, a whole new set of questions enters the equation.
It takes awhile to adjust to the almost somnambulant rhythm of the movie Hunt establishes at the outset, though it picks up along
with April’s viewpoint. Hunt, whose mouth has pulled down like a basset hound, seems to be sleepwalking through the first half of
the film and doesn’t do anything to draw the audience toward her. She is so thin and haggard in appearance that it’s like a badge of
honor. All these things are that much more endearing when April finally begins to reawaken to her new life. When Hunt finally
smiles it’s as if the sun has broken through the clouds – the risky intention of both the actress and director pays off with patience.
Midler’s character is one of those compassionate, insufferable narcissists, always spouting stuff about “the lessons” to be learned
from each and every experience but she’s essentially a control freak and it’s really all about her wants and needs. Bernice, who’s a
sort of mini version of Oprah, only hears April when April absolutely insists on it. We see that as Bernice learns to follow April’s cues
and the relationship grows, Hickey the gay assistant is getting increasingly jealous (a potential subplot quickly dispensed with to no
harm to the story). The movie, instead points Bernice’s character in a direction that wasn’t expected and Midler gets to bring a great
deal of warmth and complexity to a role that could easily have denigrated into a caricature. She dials down her innate wattage just
enough to let us see there’s a not quite secure woman behind the celebrity.
Firth and Broderick do their usual expert work, each playing stock variations on themselves (Broderick is the grown up, irresistible
school boy and Firth is funny and sexy at once – the personification of the middle aged dreamboat). Cameos by Janeane Garofolo,
Tim Robbins, and Edie Falco as Bette’s talk show guests are a nice bonus. The only casting misfire is Salmon Rushdie as Hunt’s
pediatrician – if only because his appearance in the movie is so unexpected and his identity as a “serious” author is so fixed in the
mind that to see him in the minor role throws one temporarily out of the picture.
As Then She Found Me moves along it takes on some of the same sweet, loopy tone of Waitress and the story has a similar arc. It
doesn’t have the lush, dreamy look of Waitress (or its sounds) but it felt just as satisfying and like that film I found it just about
irresistible (but why didn’t they write a song for Midler to sing over the end credits? That would have put me over the edge). A
recent New York Times story reported that the term “chick flick” has become in the mind of filmmakers a pejorative one; to apply it
to a movie that focuses on female characters is a “no no” and that future films in the genre by Nora Ephron and others will be
described and marketed in ways that will make them more palatable to wider audiences.
Well I don’t care what you call them as long as we get more movies like them – with Waitress and Then She Found Me for starters.
Can I get a witness ladies and my fellow gay chick flick fanatics?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Saturday Night Live” alum Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler, her former Weekend Update co-anchor from the show co-star in Baby
Mama, a broad, easy going comedy about surrogate motherhood that’s a modern day update of Diane Keaton’s seminal 80s
comedy Baby Boom.
Fey, star of TV’s “30 Rock,” in her bid for movie stardom, plays Kate Holbrook, a 37 year-old career exec who wants a baby.
Everywhere she goes she sees them (cue first montage – one that includes a gay couple with their little small fry) but Kate can’t get
past the first date because she desperately reveals to each prospect her desire for a baby and she also considers marriage a “high
risk scenario.” Then she’s told by a doctor that he “doesn’t like her uterus,” that her chance of conceiving are about one in a million
and finally she’s warned by her cranky, snobbish mother (Holland Taylor) not to adopt a black baby.
What’s a gal to do?
Enter Sigourney Weaver as a high priced, high falutin’ baby broker of sorts who connects Fey with a batch of potential surrogates (cue
the second montage). The most promising candidate turns out to be the white trash Angie (Amy Poehler) whose womb is rarin’ to go
in the baby conceiving department and whose white trash boyfriend Carl (Dax Shepard) is just as eager to get his hands on the big
bucks Fey will pay for the privilege. Cue the third montage (this one to the Diana Ross-Lionel Richie chestnut “Endless Love”) for the
“implementation” scene.
But complications abruptly ensue (don’t they always) when Angie shows up unannounced at Kate’s “pied-á terre,” bags in hand after
breaking up with Carl. Kate, who is a finicky perfectionist hadn’t counted on the sloppy Angie as a roomie and a series of Odd
Couple type sequences follow. Naturally, Angie will get Kate to loosen up and go nightclubbin’ and Kate will get Angie to think about
something other than karaoke, junk food and sex.
In the midst of all this Kate is busy trying to please the boss of the health food company (called “Round Earth”) that she works for.
This overbearing narcissist is an insufferable “zen-like” aging hippie who doesn’t wear socks with his business suits, sports a ponytail
and is played with comedic relish by Steve Martin. This unnamed character has deemed an untapped neighborhood in Philadelphia
as the next perfect location for a Round Earth mega store and sends Kate to investigate and find a building. She discovers a juice
bar (called “Super Fruity”) run by the friendly Rob (Greg Kinnear) who gives her a run down on the area. But when Round Earth
announces their plans a neighborhood coalition headed by Rob protests (so naturally, ideological opposites will personally attract
and soon Kate and Rob will fall for each other ala You’ve Got Mail).
Many more plot twists – most of them expected – come into play before the expected “my water just broke/dash to the hospital”
finish. In addition to Poehler, who has no trouble getting laughs as usual, good support is offered by Romany Malco as Oscar, Fey’s
wise ass doorman and with her glasses, real woman curves, innate wit and intelligence, Fey is a desperately needed addition to the
movies – a Diane Keaton for the YouTube generation.
Baby Mama – which was written not by Fey but by its director Michael McCullers – is awfully familiar yet the movie – forgive me –
delivers its laughs without audiences having to go into labor to get them. It’s gentler than what has become standard comedic fare
and the comedy is not so graphic or mean spirited – all decided plusses – and all elements that add up to a great date movie and
maybe some real life future baby mamas.
movie. It’s a pleasure to report that Hunt’s directing debut is as assured and oddly compelling as the material upon which it’s
based, the chick lit novel by Elinor Lipman. Like Hunt’s favorite acting tic this is a movie that squints every once in awhile, allowing
you to contemplate the characters and leaving you with a wry smile once you’ve had a chance to mull it over. It also offers Hunt and
her co-star Bette Midler their most satisfying parts in years.
Hunt plays April Epner a grade school teacher who as the movie gets going is sandbagged left and right by an avalanche of bad
luck. Just as she’s decided she wants a baby her husband Ben (Matthew Broderick) announces that he’s unhappy and is leaving
their marriage, then April’s adopted mother dies. In the midst of dealing with the fallout of the end of her marriage she gets hit on
by Frank (Colin Firth), the father of one of her young charges. But April is so upset about Ben walking out she barely takes notice.
Then April is confronted at school by Alan (out actor John Benjamin Hickey), who is the gay assistant for local talk show hostess
Bernice Graves (Midler). Alan informs April that Bernice is her birth mother and would like to get to know her. Without much warning,
Bernice, a woman used to having the way smoothed for her does her best to integrate herself into April’s life. Only April’s not quite
sure what that life looks like or feels like anymore. Slowly, she begins to sort out the wheat from the chaff. April begins a tentative
relationship with Frank that quickly heads toward the deep end while at the same time going up and down with Bernice. But when
April discovers she’s pregnant, with either Frank or Ben the father, a whole new set of questions enters the equation.
It takes awhile to adjust to the almost somnambulant rhythm of the movie Hunt establishes at the outset, though it picks up along
with April’s viewpoint. Hunt, whose mouth has pulled down like a basset hound, seems to be sleepwalking through the first half of
the film and doesn’t do anything to draw the audience toward her. She is so thin and haggard in appearance that it’s like a badge of
honor. All these things are that much more endearing when April finally begins to reawaken to her new life. When Hunt finally
smiles it’s as if the sun has broken through the clouds – the risky intention of both the actress and director pays off with patience.
Midler’s character is one of those compassionate, insufferable narcissists, always spouting stuff about “the lessons” to be learned
from each and every experience but she’s essentially a control freak and it’s really all about her wants and needs. Bernice, who’s a
sort of mini version of Oprah, only hears April when April absolutely insists on it. We see that as Bernice learns to follow April’s cues
and the relationship grows, Hickey the gay assistant is getting increasingly jealous (a potential subplot quickly dispensed with to no
harm to the story). The movie, instead points Bernice’s character in a direction that wasn’t expected and Midler gets to bring a great
deal of warmth and complexity to a role that could easily have denigrated into a caricature. She dials down her innate wattage just
enough to let us see there’s a not quite secure woman behind the celebrity.
Firth and Broderick do their usual expert work, each playing stock variations on themselves (Broderick is the grown up, irresistible
school boy and Firth is funny and sexy at once – the personification of the middle aged dreamboat). Cameos by Janeane Garofolo,
Tim Robbins, and Edie Falco as Bette’s talk show guests are a nice bonus. The only casting misfire is Salmon Rushdie as Hunt’s
pediatrician – if only because his appearance in the movie is so unexpected and his identity as a “serious” author is so fixed in the
mind that to see him in the minor role throws one temporarily out of the picture.
As Then She Found Me moves along it takes on some of the same sweet, loopy tone of Waitress and the story has a similar arc. It
doesn’t have the lush, dreamy look of Waitress (or its sounds) but it felt just as satisfying and like that film I found it just about
irresistible (but why didn’t they write a song for Midler to sing over the end credits? That would have put me over the edge). A
recent New York Times story reported that the term “chick flick” has become in the mind of filmmakers a pejorative one; to apply it
to a movie that focuses on female characters is a “no no” and that future films in the genre by Nora Ephron and others will be
described and marketed in ways that will make them more palatable to wider audiences.
Well I don’t care what you call them as long as we get more movies like them – with Waitress and Then She Found Me for starters.
Can I get a witness ladies and my fellow gay chick flick fanatics?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Saturday Night Live” alum Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler, her former Weekend Update co-anchor from the show co-star in Baby
Mama, a broad, easy going comedy about surrogate motherhood that’s a modern day update of Diane Keaton’s seminal 80s
comedy Baby Boom.
Fey, star of TV’s “30 Rock,” in her bid for movie stardom, plays Kate Holbrook, a 37 year-old career exec who wants a baby.
Everywhere she goes she sees them (cue first montage – one that includes a gay couple with their little small fry) but Kate can’t get
past the first date because she desperately reveals to each prospect her desire for a baby and she also considers marriage a “high
risk scenario.” Then she’s told by a doctor that he “doesn’t like her uterus,” that her chance of conceiving are about one in a million
and finally she’s warned by her cranky, snobbish mother (Holland Taylor) not to adopt a black baby.
What’s a gal to do?
Enter Sigourney Weaver as a high priced, high falutin’ baby broker of sorts who connects Fey with a batch of potential surrogates (cue
the second montage). The most promising candidate turns out to be the white trash Angie (Amy Poehler) whose womb is rarin’ to go
in the baby conceiving department and whose white trash boyfriend Carl (Dax Shepard) is just as eager to get his hands on the big
bucks Fey will pay for the privilege. Cue the third montage (this one to the Diana Ross-Lionel Richie chestnut “Endless Love”) for the
“implementation” scene.
But complications abruptly ensue (don’t they always) when Angie shows up unannounced at Kate’s “pied-á terre,” bags in hand after
breaking up with Carl. Kate, who is a finicky perfectionist hadn’t counted on the sloppy Angie as a roomie and a series of Odd
Couple type sequences follow. Naturally, Angie will get Kate to loosen up and go nightclubbin’ and Kate will get Angie to think about
something other than karaoke, junk food and sex.
In the midst of all this Kate is busy trying to please the boss of the health food company (called “Round Earth”) that she works for.
This overbearing narcissist is an insufferable “zen-like” aging hippie who doesn’t wear socks with his business suits, sports a ponytail
and is played with comedic relish by Steve Martin. This unnamed character has deemed an untapped neighborhood in Philadelphia
as the next perfect location for a Round Earth mega store and sends Kate to investigate and find a building. She discovers a juice
bar (called “Super Fruity”) run by the friendly Rob (Greg Kinnear) who gives her a run down on the area. But when Round Earth
announces their plans a neighborhood coalition headed by Rob protests (so naturally, ideological opposites will personally attract
and soon Kate and Rob will fall for each other ala You’ve Got Mail).
Many more plot twists – most of them expected – come into play before the expected “my water just broke/dash to the hospital”
finish. In addition to Poehler, who has no trouble getting laughs as usual, good support is offered by Romany Malco as Oscar, Fey’s
wise ass doorman and with her glasses, real woman curves, innate wit and intelligence, Fey is a desperately needed addition to the
movies – a Diane Keaton for the YouTube generation.
Baby Mama – which was written not by Fey but by its director Michael McCullers – is awfully familiar yet the movie – forgive me –
delivers its laughs without audiences having to go into labor to get them. It’s gentler than what has become standard comedic fare
and the comedy is not so graphic or mean spirited – all decided plusses – and all elements that add up to a great date movie and
maybe some real life future baby mamas.
Funny Ladies:
Then She Found Me-Baby Mama
4-23 and 4-30-08 Windy City Times Knight at the Movies Columns
By Richard Knight, Jr.
Then She Found Me-Baby Mama
4-23 and 4-30-08 Windy City Times Knight at the Movies Columns
By Richard Knight, Jr.
