Customer Reviews

The Next Best Thing

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

Have you ever bought at the stock market when everybody told you to sell - and won? That's what happened to me with this film. After buying almost all of John Schlesinger's films, I hesistated before ordering this one - in view of all that criticism. But then I assumed that - 1) Schlesinger cannot suddenly make a bad film after making so many excellent ones, and - 2) if so many bad things are said about a film it must somehow be good. Luckily, I was right this time.

Perhaps much of all that criticism springs from unjustified expectations. Let me try to put two points right: First: this is not a film about Madonna, or by Madonna. She is just an actress here - and a good one, just right for the part. Schlesinger does not present her as a singer or a sex symbol - but as a person. Secondly: Nobody has made a promise that this will be an in-depth, politically correct exploration of gay life. This is just a film - and an entertaining one. There is no law in the land that says a gay person cannot be a times a trifle ridiculous or sentimental, like other persons.

Therefore I recommend you follow the advice Madonna gives in her part as a Yoga teacher: Take a deep breath and relax - just enjoy this as another very good Schlesinger film - a real work of art.

So... I certainly respect everyone's right to have their own opinion, but it boggles my mind how so many of the reviewers seemed to love this film! It was pretty darned bad. While Madonna's "I'm british, no I'm not" accent was somewhat entertaining, her character's complete personality shift 2/3 of the way through made no sense and totally pushed the rest of this already mediocre film downhill. If you think this plot was a good idea, but you want to experience *some* entertainment from it, go rent "The Object Of My Affection."

I had some respect for Madonna before I saw this. But -- no more! If they had set out to make a movie with three characters -- a quintessential "today's woman, a gay man, and a stereotypical stock-character arrogant, self-centered jerk of a "straight" man, then trying to make them equal by making everybody look bad, they could have hardly done a better job than with this film! No heroes or heroines here -- everybody just double-crosses everybody. If they had tried to make it into a zany comdedy after the manner of A FISH CALLED WANDA or the more slapstick parts of MR. DEEDS, they might have had some success. But as is, THE NEXT BEST THING tries to be a serious movie without any real redeeming value. The line that stands out most in my memory is when Madonna's character expresses disappointment in her gay friend by saying, "As a gay man, I expected better from you." So much for not putting people "on pedestals" and so much for any thought that equality really means equality! What COULD this be the next best thing to? Yeast infections maybe?

Forget about diamonds. `The Next Best Thing' is dedicated to the proposition that a gay man is really a girl's best friend. But, man, can that make life complicated! Madonna stars as Abbie, a Southern California yoga instructor who just can't seem to find that certain someone to provide her with marriage and a child but who, at the same time, hears her biological clock ticking ominously down. Rupert Everett plays Robert, her gay best friend, whom Abbie leans upon for support in times of grave romantic crisis - which seems to be just about her normal state of affairs. One night the two get a little too drunk and frisky and end up consummating their friendship, an act that leads to Abbie's pregnancy and a decision between the two to move in together and raise the child as mother and father but not husband and wife. All goes fairly well for six years or so until Abbie falls in love with a young New York executive who wants to marry her and move the three of them away from Los Angeles and the man Sammy thinks of as his father. This leads to a complex court battle between the principals as the suddenly antagonistic best friends struggle over custody of their child.

In this day and age when less traditional relationships and families abound in our society, credit `The Next Best Thing' with at least trying to come to terms with some of the unintended and unforeseen consequences that result when well-meaning people wind up in overly complicated situations. We see that Abbie obviously has strong feelings for this man she knows she can never have, while Robert feels inexplicable stirrings of jealousy when Abbie begins to develop an interest in her new beau. We also see the difficulties faced by little Sammy as he begins to grow up and be questioned by his little friends about the unconventional relationship of his parents. (However, this interesting theme is dealt with in only the most superficial way before it is conveniently swept under the carpet). As the film examines the setup from its many different angles and perspectives, it attempts to deal fairly with the principal characters involved. No one is made out to be the heavy or the villain, yet, at the same time; all the characters have their moments of unreasonable selfishness. The main problem with `The Next Best Thing,' however, is that it is attempting to address these really serious issues in the context of a lighthearted romantic comedy. As a result, the plotting seems somehow more contrived than it might if it were developed along the lines of a serious social drama. We never really believe any of it, partly because the film seems to spend more of its time displaying and lingering over the truly phenomenal bodies of its three main actors than exploring the depth of their characters. It all seems so surface slick, replete with a too-cozy happy ending done in summary written codas flashed on the screen immediately prior to the closing credits.

Madonna and Everett are both physically very attractive performers - a real boon to the 40+ actors set that doesn't seem to get too much work in the movie romance department these days. As an actress, Madonna has certainly come a long way from her truly wretched performances in the early part of her film career. In this film, except when she is called upon to cry - in which case, she is still incredibly unconvincing - she does seem to have a more relaxed presence on the screen than she has had previously. Everett looks as though he would much rather be sinking his teeth into a far meatier role, but, given the material he has to work with, he does a serviceable job. Oddly enough, this film contains a host of secondary characters who pop up so infrequently or disappear entirely with no explanation that one wonders either why they were included in the first place or at what stage between scriptwriting and final editing they lost their way. This sloppiness and the overall timidity and slickness of the film are particularly surprising given the fact that director John Schlesinger was once responsible for such classic edgy works as "Darling" and "Midnight Cowboy" in the 1960's.

`The Next Best Thing' has its heart in the right place and its twisting/turning plot structure, built on the complex emotional needs of its character, carries the audience along fairly nicely. We can identify with these people because, although they seem well meaning, they are also way over their heads with the cards life has dealt them. Who among us cannot empathize with that situation? A pity, then, that `The Next Best Thing' didn't provide a bit more serious context in which to explore it.

I'm a huge fan of Madonna and in the past two years I've become a big fan of Rupert Everett, that's mainly why I bought this video. I wasn't sure what to expect going into the film, mainly because of the bad reviews the movie received after it's release. I give it three stars, solely because I like the two main actors. The script itself has some problems and like the review above mentions, it seems at times it was rushed and almost like a rough draft of a script. I just wasn't buying what some of the characters were saying to each other. It seemed trite, and the language seemed like something straight out of a bad 80's movie. I also disagree with the review above when it states that Madonna is the most relaxed she's ever been in a film! That's so not true, if anything she seemed more tense to me. And what the heck is going on with that accent? Sometimes it was painfully obvious and at other times it seemed to fade. I like her a lot, but she really needs to loosen up, especially in this film. She seemed extremely uptight, not to mention her character becomes downright unlikeable about 2/3 into the movie. As for Rupert (Robert), I liked him and I shared his pain in the movie. This character was very well defined and if anything at all, he makes this movie worth seeing. The plot twist towards the end of the movie threw me a bit and I don't understand where the twist came from, this should have been made more apparent to the audience earlier in the film. Overall, it's a mediocre film, not bad, but not real good either. If you're a fan of either of the main actors, then buy this film. If you're not a big fan, you're better off renting it.

This movie is SO bad, it's almost painful to watch. Full of cliches, despite trying to be "edgy" with the gay issues and the whole yoga thing. Madonna's acting is so poor, probably because she was concentrating so veddy hard on trying to enunciate and use British inflections: "Are you asking me on a date?" UGH!! Even her hair is gross-looking. Everything about her distracts from the film, and her character comes off as being abrasive. Rupert Everett and Benjamin Bratt are both incredibly charming and attractive, but, alas, they cannot save the day, as there is only one scene in which they play with Madonna not speaking in the background. The jump from the cliched birthing scene to the child being five years old; and then the nifty written story tie-up just before the credits roll -- it is incredibly bad. The only thing I can say is that it bombed at the box office, and is therefore less offensive, as that should tell Madonna that even with her fan base, the general public is not made up of fools.

from the way people we talking about this i thought it would be awful. it was not all that bad though.maddonna my not be the world best actress but thr other actors are good. i think the kid who played sam was pretty good. overall i thought it was to slow moving .

The basic story line of a gay man and his best (female) friend raising a child and then what happens when the woman falls in love with another man was intriguing and certainly had my husband and I discussing the various sides after the movie was over. However, the thought-provoking premise is marred by Madonna's atrocious acting (what IS it with the phony pseudo-British accent she has developed over the past few years! ) poor editing, abrubt jumps in time and a choppy story. In addition, the character of Abby is so blah (and in the end, deceitful) that one wonders how the kind-hearted, loving character of Robert could consider this weak vessel to be his best friend! Stupid mistakes further get in the way of the movie (The little boy, Sam, is supposed to be six? The actor is definitely too old to play six! Further, the timing of the insipid "well how are we going to explain it all to Sam" was unrealistic. Surely these characters would have talked about how to handle that issue earlier...)In conclusion, it is always a shame when a clever storyline is marred by amateurish acting and writing.

i am not actually a fan of madge although i do hear about her.Anyways, i went into this movie without any exceptation and i was blown away. The movie is awesome. it was stuck in my memory long after i watched it. The emotion and the laughs it brings is real. Madge may not be the best actress in the world but she really hit this movie hard and i prefer to watch it any day than Evita. Pls, don't read the reviews just buy or rent it and you will be surprised.

After watching this DVD I felt like asking what would be the "next best thing" -- hopefully a better movie. At best this is a mediocre film, a fairly ineffective mix of comedy, drama, and romance. Despite being friends in real life, Madonna and Rupert Everett have little chemistry (Everett was a much more appealing gay gal pal to Julia Roberts in "My Best Friend's Wedding"). We know these actors (along with Benjamin Bratt) can do better and perhaps it is the script that is to blame. Towards the end of the movie there is a sudden plot twist -- if the viewing audience was clued into this earlier it would have created more tension until it was eventually unveiled. While it is a betrayal to one of the characters it is likewise one to viewers. Without giving anything away, the turn of events is based on something that should have been common knowledge to any informed/involved parent (which the movie professes both parties are). Additionally, there are the usual (and admittedly nit-picky) film head-scratchers like how could a yoga instructor possibly afford a beautiful home like that in LA area?

The extras on this DVD are fairly negligible. There are extended interviews with the cast and director (Madonna seems a bit on guard) and Madonna's video for "American Pie" (Interesting cover version or musical blasphemy? You make the call!). Overall, a disappointment for the talent involved.