Produced, co written, and directed by Helen Hunt, who also has the lead role, this drama/comedy is a very good, smart and seriously funny that absolutely will appeal to those so-called sophisticated audiences. Her debut as a director is as good as her acting and here plays April a 39 years-old New York teacher that is painfully aware of her ticking biological time clock and desperately wants to have a child of her own.Before I continue with the story, have to say that probably only because she was doing everything in this movie, here we are able to see a de-glamorized Helen Hunt that believably does her character and allows her to show how well she can perform. Her character has vertiginous mood swings and she-the actress and she-the director amazingly maneuvers to control her character and the movie consistency.
So the story gets a little complicated when in less than a week April’s husband (Matthew Broderick) of a few months tells her he made a mistake and leaves, her adopted mother (Lynn Cohen) dies, her biological mother (Bette Midler) appears, and she falls for the father (Colin Firth) of one of her students. I just read what I wrote and sounds so plain, but no, this movie has nothing plain and with very good performances by actors doing odd well-developed characters the comedy moments are seriously funny and drama moments are seriously good. I laughed a lot. I wish I could tell you more about the story, but I’ll be giving serious spoilers.
The strangest moment in the movie was when I saw April’s obstetrician, gee I was shocked by the cameo that Salman Rushdie did. What is he doing here??? No idea, but it was a very distracting moment. Well, I really like Colin Firth and even if his character is quite odd and a little difficult to get, he does an excellent performance.
The movie had its North American premiere at the 2007 Toronto fest and will have the USA premier at the Palm Springs fest.
I do recommend this movie to adult audiences that love smart well-done independent movies.
Enjoy!
I was also quite puzzled with Rushdie's appearance on the movie, lol!
ReplyDeleteApart from that and even if I will gladly watch any movie with Helen Hunt, I didn't find it a memorable movie. Nice to watch, but easy to forget (at least for me).
Yeah agree. Not a memorable movie. Perhaps is the real subject of the story: adpotion??!!
ReplyDeleteI watched this because of Helen Hunt. I really do not remember the movie as it was an average movie and I am usually quite forgiving when it comes to movies with my favorite stars, but this one is not going to be in my top 10 list anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteBecause the story was so mediocre, I found myself watching the way Helen delivered her lines, and I found she uses the same technique as she has in other movies. It worked for the other movies, but not this one.. Too bad, I was quite hopefully about this.. I guess I will have to wait for the next one from her! :)
Hmm, think I understand what you mean Kibb. I agree that is not a memorable movie and perhaps is due to the story... still, I did like it and I did enjoyed HH performance, she was doing what she knows how to do ... then, the story was not so interesting or well developed, so perhaps she should stay off writting!!!
ReplyDeleteWell, lets hope that her next project has a more interesting and well developed story, so we can see if she really knows how to direct. :)