When I borrowed this film from my local library I was hoping it would live up to the abilities of its promising cast (Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth & Matthew Broderick), and yet it took me a while to actually sit down and view it. Fortunately it turned out to be funny and endearing.
I read in the beginning credits that it was based on a novel and it looks like Helen Hunt (as director), along with the screenwriters, were able to effectively glean the comedic elements from the story. The film's achievement is portraying the swirling emotions of its central characters without becoming too cloying or desperate.
In terms of the actors, Bette Midler is especially memorable as a woman who fumbles into territory that for her, up to this point in her life, is seemingly uncharted. Colin Firth is messy and lovable, Matthew Broderick, pathetic and a bit lost. And Helen Hunt proves herself as a capable director while depicting a woman searching for her own sense of fulfillment. There were moments while watching this that I laughed out loud and other moments when I cried -- this amounts to some of my criteria that makes a movie ultimately worth seeing.
I read in the beginning credits that it was based on a novel and it looks like Helen Hunt (as director), along with the screenwriters, were able to effectively glean the comedic elements from the story. The film's achievement is portraying the swirling emotions of its central characters without becoming too cloying or desperate.
In terms of the actors, Bette Midler is especially memorable as a woman who fumbles into territory that for her, up to this point in her life, is seemingly uncharted. Colin Firth is messy and lovable, Matthew Broderick, pathetic and a bit lost. And Helen Hunt proves herself as a capable director while depicting a woman searching for her own sense of fulfillment. There were moments while watching this that I laughed out loud and other moments when I cried -- this amounts to some of my criteria that makes a movie ultimately worth seeing.