Then She Found Me - Movie Review

Then She Found Me (R) 100 minutes C
All that she wants...

Starring Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick, and Ben Shankman

I think Helen Hunt could be a big time Hollywood actress if she wanted to be. She's pretty, she's talented, and she has an acting style that's unique. But I get the feeling that she's selective about her roles, and/or is committed to her family (raising her daughter) first and foremost. Whatever the case, I respect her choices even if their a tad disappointing, i.e Then She Found Me.

This film is Hunt's debut as a feature film director, and she is also co-writer and star of the film. Then She Found Me isn't bad, but it underwhelms and comes off as a little unconvincing. The characters in this film are likable but they don't feel genuine.

Thirty-nine year old April Epner (Hunt) desperately wants to have a baby, her one-year marriage has just ended, and one day after that her mother dies (that's just the beginning).

There is quite a bit of melodrama here, and to reiterate this point Helen Hunt spends a lot of this film sans make-up. Film critic Wesley Morris says "Helen Hunt deserves a lot of credit for agreeing to look like hell in Then She Found Me", while Paula Nechak of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer describes Hunt as "drawn, raw, drab and fragile as your grandmother's faded wallpaper."

Looks aside, Hunt does a nice job acting, as does Broderick. But the film is a little too scatterbrained to deliver the emotional punch it's aiming for (and should deliver).