Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46318 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-08-29
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.com
You'd be hard-pressed to find a modern-day couple as impossibly glamorous as Rupert Everett and Madonna; their casting as common folk in the gay-parenting drama The Next Best Thing is just one of the film's myriad problems. (One thing we never needed to see was these two pushing grocery carts in a supermarket. It's just unnatural.) Best friends in sun-dappled L.A. (he's a landscaper, she's a yoga instructor), Abbie (Madonna) and Robert (Everett) fall into an amorous embrace on a fateful Fourth of July after a few too many martinis. Robert's gay, which complicates things; even more complicating is Abbie's confession a few weeks later that she's with child. Six years later, Robert, Abbie, and their son Sam are all living together peacefully and happily--that is, until a hunky investment banker (Benjamin Bratt) starts making eyes at Abbie, throwing their carefully constructed dynamic into disarray.

Lazily directed by Oscar-winner John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy) with an eye towards his actors' muscle tone rather than characterizations (even the kid does yoga), the faults in The Next Best Thing aren't solely on the shoulders of its miscast stars, but rather the painfully inept screenplay by Tom Ropelewski. With cardboard dialogue that sounds like bad first-draft material--including wailing by Madonna about how she can't find a man (ha!) and a gym-buffed Everett complaining about gay male body image (double ha!)--the movie stumbles from domestic comedy to custody-suit tragedy when it takes a bizarre left turn in the third act. Any statements about new definitions of family are buried underneath these dubious events, which (of course) provide teary courtroom outbursts for both leads. Everett has a quick way with a one-liner, and Madonna is more relaxed than she's ever been in a film, but Schlesinger just tosses them in front of the camera with no help whatsoever; the supporting cast, including Lynn Redgrave, Neil Patrick Harris, and Illeana Douglas, is also left to flounder inexplicably. There's a thoughtful and provocative movie to be made about gay parents, but The Next Best Thing certainly isn't it. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews

Pretty bad
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."

Take a deep breath, relax - and enjoy!
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.

Mediocre film........
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.