Then She Found Me

This morning I screened Then She Found Me, starring Helen Hunt and Colin Firth.

I was quite pleasantly surprised by the depth and meaning of this film.

The main character, April (Hunt), seems to have everything going wrong in her life: her adoptive mother just passed away, her husband cheated on her and left her, and she desperately wants to be a mom as she feels her biological clock ticking out of control. She's 39, a teacher and alone.

Then out of nowhere, her obnoxious biological mother (played by a perfectly cast Bette Midler) swoops back into her life to complicate things even further.

What saves the movie from being a complete downer is the lucky connection she makes with Frank (Firth), the father of one of her students, though she works hard to self-sabatoge that relationship too.

That's not to say that all (or any) of this is her fault—her persona is likable and sweet, if not pathetic, and you can't help but root for her. But what I liked the most about this intertwined story was that every situation could happen. April is not perfect, so when her character grows as a result of these experiences, it makes them all that more believable.

Hunt should be commended not only for her acting in this role, but for her directing, as she commands great performances from all involved.

The only elements of the film that bothered me were an early street scene between Hunt and Midler, which feels more like a theater performance than a conversation, and the fact that I found myself wanting to give April a hairstyle for the duration.

Otherwise, watching this movie is a great way to spend a couple of hours.