The Next Best Thing (2000)

`The Next Best Thing' was excruciatingly slow. From the start the plot left a lot to be desired. On several different occasions I hoped the movie would end, but it just kept on. The acting was mediocre at best, but even the best actors would have had little to work with. Unfortunately `TNBT' made it to the top of `Movies I wish I had never seen.'

Fmovies: Its been months since my wife dragged me to see this film, and I still can't get the rotten taste out of my mouth. Ten minutes into the movie she and I were looking at our watches, wondering how much more we were in for. At that point we knew we had a film that could surpass The Postman (the Costner movie, not the Italian one) in trite pompousness. The only positive thing I can say I gained from The Next Best Thing is that it has given me a new concrete reference for the term "Bad Movie" (it nudged Postman out by a nose).

I want to express, these feelings don't come from any bias I may have against Madonna or any of the other actor's involved in it(including TVs Doogie Hauser), in fact I have a great deal of respect for Madonna's business acumen and her ability to continually re-invent herself. A big part of her past success has come from her wisdom to surround herself with capable people, but that seems to have not made a difference this time. The usually engaging Rupert Everett walks woodenly through every scene. Julia Roberts' 'Squeeze' Benjamin Bratt stumbles through his poorly written lines. And as for Madonna herself--what accent is that you're affecting?

Stay Away, stay away in droves. Or better yet, watch it, and learn what real pain is.

I almost felt I watching tv-movie on Hallmark. Especially the last 45 minutes are like in tv-movie. The movie begins with comedy touch and later it becomes boring drama. Madonna is ok in this movie, but the film doesn't have good script. All the actors are ok. The movie isn't funny and surely isn't touching. Maybe better script should worked. If Madonna wants to become better actress, she should rely on better scripts. This film is like tv-movie; after you have watched it, you simply forget it. ** stars from ***** stars.

The Next Best Thing fmovies. The Next Best Thing casts Madonna as a free spirited soul (some stretch of casting there) who has a one night stand with an old friend and soul mate Rupert Everett. But that's not likely to happen too often as Everett is a gay man with whom she confides her innermost.

I think Everett's character must have been based on Roddy McDowall who was a confidante to many of the rich and glamorous and unlike that other gay man who did that as well, Truman Capote, McDowall never wrote any tell all memoirs.

It rarely happens in real life, but a blessed event came from that mating and Madonna and Everett decide to move in together, not marry, but raise the child as a mother and father with each leading their separate lives. It actually does work for a while.

Madonna really gets into the mother role and Everett's a great father figure. But he never forgets his social life with friends and lovers like Neil Patrick Harris and Mark Valley.

But then Madonna meets Benjamin Bratt who wants to get married and that puts an end to the arrangements.

The Next Best Thing while a sincere effort in its own way of showing the complicated problems that gays and lesbians have with the raising of children, their own children at that, it sadly degenerates into the kind of soap opera that one finds on the Lifetime Channel. It's not a horrible film, just will never be on anyone's ten best list.

I'm with songman018. I give it an 8 rather than a 10, but I agree with everything he said about it. I'm shocked at how poorly this has rated among IMDB members. I would've read some other comments to get a feel for why the average rating is below 5, but I don't want to blow my image of either the movie, or get disappointed in the people that viewed it. I thought that it was an incredibly appealing and sensitive film and that all of the actors within were amazing. I don't think I can say much more about it that songman didn't already cover for me. I'm very pleased to see that someone else enjoyed it as much as I did. Watch with an open mind and heart.

So bad it's good. Or something. At least, I didn't actually vomit up my Hungry-Man TV Dinner -- I sat glued to the screen, fascinated with Madonna's vapid-rapid-blink "acting" style, Benjamin Bratt's inability to manufacture charm, and the fact that the normally appealing Rupert Everett was markedly repugnant in this film. Madonna looks equally strange. The creature/product has been molded into something quite cute at various stages in her career, but in this vehicle she looks like she's been hitting the steroid needle. I tried and tried but was unable to analyze just what was wrong with her. You be the judge! Watch it! Preferably with some unsuspecting friends and gallons of alcohol.