Ready for another (Thumbs Up) movie review?
Yesterday, along with two good friends, I saw "Then She Found Me." Produced, directed by, and staring, Helen Hunt.
The thing I like best about Helen Hunt is how she looks. Like it's not a priority. Like she needs her hair washed. Like her clothes and big sandals are comfy. In other words, she looks normal.
(Remember her look in "As Good As It Gets?" She looks the same in this movie, only older.)
She plays a 39 and one half year old woman who's life is unraveling. And she wants a baby - really bad.
Two of the saddest kinds of people in the world are women who want a baby - and women who don't want babies but have them anyway.
Just as things can't get much worse, her birth mother, played by Bette Midler, appears. It's funny to see them walking down the sidewalk together, Helen in her sandals, Bette, teetering (as only she does) on her spiky heels.
The movie also stars Matthew Broderick. How is that he played one of the coolest characters of all time in "Ferris Beuller's Day Off" but since then has played mostly nerdy uncomfortable guys?
"Then She Found Me" also stars one of my favorite actors, Colin Firth. He doesn't disappoint.
What's this movie really about? Faith and trust. That is to say, faith and trust in God and other people. And, of course, our inability to do that well because we've been hurt so badly.
All of the characters are flawed human beings. Helen does something so stupid that I found it unbelievable. But my friends assured me that it was realistic behavior.
Bette Midler plays a lying, guilt ridden birth mom.
She's also accepting, patient and unconditionally loves her new found daughter.
Isn't that what all of us would have wanted from our mothers? I know I would.
***
Yesterday, along with two good friends, I saw "Then She Found Me." Produced, directed by, and staring, Helen Hunt.
The thing I like best about Helen Hunt is how she looks. Like it's not a priority. Like she needs her hair washed. Like her clothes and big sandals are comfy. In other words, she looks normal.
(Remember her look in "As Good As It Gets?" She looks the same in this movie, only older.)
She plays a 39 and one half year old woman who's life is unraveling. And she wants a baby - really bad.
Two of the saddest kinds of people in the world are women who want a baby - and women who don't want babies but have them anyway.
Just as things can't get much worse, her birth mother, played by Bette Midler, appears. It's funny to see them walking down the sidewalk together, Helen in her sandals, Bette, teetering (as only she does) on her spiky heels.
The movie also stars Matthew Broderick. How is that he played one of the coolest characters of all time in "Ferris Beuller's Day Off" but since then has played mostly nerdy uncomfortable guys?
"Then She Found Me" also stars one of my favorite actors, Colin Firth. He doesn't disappoint.
What's this movie really about? Faith and trust. That is to say, faith and trust in God and other people. And, of course, our inability to do that well because we've been hurt so badly.
All of the characters are flawed human beings. Helen does something so stupid that I found it unbelievable. But my friends assured me that it was realistic behavior.
Bette Midler plays a lying, guilt ridden birth mom.
She's also accepting, patient and unconditionally loves her new found daughter.
Isn't that what all of us would have wanted from our mothers? I know I would.
***
