''The Next Best Thing'' is a 2000 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...

(his final feature film before his death in 2003) about two best friends who have a child together and a custody battle years after. Starring

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

Rupert Everett Rupert James Hector Everett (; born 29 May 1959) is an English actor, director and producer. Everett first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film '' Another Country'' (1984) as a gay pupi ...

, and

Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor and producer who has worked in film and on television. He had supporting roles in the 1990s in such box office hits as ''Demolition Man'' (1993), ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), ...

, it opened to the number-two position in the North American box office and poor critical reviews.

Plot

Two best friendsa heterosexual woman Abbie and a gay man Robert decide to have a child together. Five years later, Abbie falls in love with a heterosexual man and wants to move away with him and Robert's little boy Sam, and a nasty custody battle ensues.

Cast

as Abigail "Abbie" Reynolds *

as Robert Whittaker *

as Benjamin "Ben" Cooper *

Michael Vartan Michael S. Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is a French-American actor, known for his role as Michael Vaughn on the ABC television action drama ''Alias'', his role on the TNT medical drama '' Hawthorne'', and his role on the '' E!'' drama '' The A ...

as Kevin Lasater *

Josef Sommer Maximilian Josef Sommer (born June 26, 1934) is a retired German-American stage, television, and film actor. Early life He was born in Greifswald, Germany, and raised in North Carolina, the son of Elisabeth and Clemens Sommer, a professor of Art ...

as Richard Whittaker *

Lynn Redgrave Lynn Rachel Redgrave (8 March 1943 – 2 May 2010) was an English actress. She won two Golden Globe Awards throughout her career. A member of the Redgrave family of actors, Lynn trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962. By ...

as Helen Whittaker * Malcolm Stumpf as Samuel "Sam" *

Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout ...

as David *

Illeana Douglas Illeana Hesselberg (born July 25, 1961 or 1965), known professionally as Illeana Douglas, is an American actress and filmmaker. She appeared in three episodes of '' Six Feet Under'', for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination as O ...

as Elizabeth Ryder * Mark Valley as Cardiologist * Suzanne Krull as Annabel *

Stacy Edwards Stacy Edwards (born March 4, 1965) is an American actress. She appeared in a number of B movies before her breakthrough role in the 1997 black comedy film ''In the Company of Men'', for which she received Independent Spirit Award for Best Female ...

as Finn *

William Mesnik William Mesnik (born May 21, 1953, age 68) is an American character actor, musician and playwright who appeared in numerous films and television series of the 1990s and 2000s. He started his career as a singer-songwriter in the mid-1970s, playing ...

as Ashby *

Linda Larkin Linda Larkin (born March 20, 1970) is an American actress, best known for her role as the speaking voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney's 1992 animated feature film ''Aladdin''. Career Larkin began her career in 1990, with the film ''Zapped Agai ...

as Kelly * Adam Marlow as Baby

Production

The film began as an original screenplay titled ''The Red Curtain'' by

Tom Ropelewski Tom Ropelewski is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He is best known for films ''Look Who's Talking Now'', ''Loverboy'', ''The Next Best Thing'' and '' The Kiss''. He is married to screenwriter/producer, Leslie Dixon. In May 2006, ' ...

, which he intended to direct, with his wife

Leslie Dixon Leslie Dixon is an American screenwriter and film producer. She began her career as an original screenwriter, writing films such as 1987's '' Outrageous Fortune'' and '' Overboard''. She then moved into adaptations and re-writes, developing the ...

to produce. It was announced to be made in 1995 with

Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (; born Dreyfus; October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for starring in popular films during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''Jaws'' (1975), ''Close Encounters of the T ...

attached to star as Robert; he dropped out, then Helen Hunt was named as female lead to play Abbie. She was replaced by Madonna and then

signed on as star. Filming took place between 23 April and 30 June 1999. It later was claimed the script was rewritten extensively by Ryan Murphy and Rupert Everett.Nat Segaloff, ''Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors'', Bear Manor Media 2013 p 258-260

Reception

Roger Ebert gave the film one star, stating: "''The Next Best Thing'' is a garage sale of gay issues, harnessed to a plot as exhausted as a junkman's horse." The film received a 19% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 94 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Story elements clash and acting falls short." On Metacritic, the film has rating of 25/100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Box office

The film opened at number two at the North American box office, making

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

$5,870,387, behind ''

The Whole Nine Yards "The whole nine yards" or "the full nine yards" is a colloquial American English phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way", as in, "The Army came out and gave us the whole nine yards on how they use ...

''. The film grossed $14,990,582 in the U.S. and $24,362,772 worldwide on a $25 million budget.

Accolades

The film was nominated as Outstanding Film at the 2001

GLAAD Media Awards The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their live ...

. Madonna won a

Golden Raspberry Award The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...

for Worst Actress, and the film was nominated for other Razzies including: * Worst Director –

Worst Picture The Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture is an award given out at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst film of the past year. Over the 39 ceremonies that have taken place, there have been 202 films nominated for Worst Picture and 42 ...

* Worst Screenplay – Thomas Ropelewski * Worst Screen Couple – Madonna and either Rupert Everett or Benjamin Bratt

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was released by

Maverick Records Maverick was an American entertainment company founded in 1992 by Madonna, Frederick DeMann, and Veronica "Ronnie" Dashev, and formerly owned and operated by Warner Music Group. It included a record label (Maverick Records), a film production ...

on February 21, 2000. It reached number 34 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart.

was executive producer on the soundtrack and hand-picked all the tracks that appeared. The album had two new songs from Madonna: "Time Stood Still" (an original track written and produced with

William Orbit William Mark Wainwright (born 15 December 1956),"William Orbit." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 30. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2000. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 7 May 2017. Available onlinvia ''Encyclopedia.com'' known ...

) and a cover of Don McLean's " American Pie". "Time Stood Still" reached the number 3 in Czech Republic, and the latter track was a number one around the world, climbing to the top of the charts in the UK, Italy, Australia, Germany, and Japan. The album also included tracks by

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

Beth Orton Elizabeth Caroline Orton (born 14 December 1970) is an English musician, known for her "folktronica" sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit, Andrew Weatherall, ...

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...

, and

Groove Armada Groove Armada are an English electronic music duo, composed of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay. They achieved chart success with their singles "At the River", " I See You Baby" and " Superstylin'". The duo have released nine studio albums, four of w ...

Track listing

# "Boom Boom Ba" – Métisse # "

Bongo Bong "Bongo Bong" is the first solo single by Manu Chao, from his debut album, ''Clandestino''. It is a remake of "King of Bongo", a track from Manu Chao's previous band, Mano Negra. The title and lyrics are taken from the 1939 jazz song "King of Bo ...

" –

Manu Chao Manu Chao (; born José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao on 21 June 1961) is a French-Spanish singer. He sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Greek, and occasionally in other languages. Chao began his mu ...

# "Don't Make Me Love You ('Til I'm Ready)" –

# " American Pie" –

# "This Life" –

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

# "If Everybody Looked the Same" –

# " Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" –

# " I'm Not in Love" –

Olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

# "Stars All Seem to Weep" –

# "Time Stood Still" – Madonna # "Swayambhu" – Solar Twins # "Forever and Always" –

Gabriel Yared Gabriel Yared (Arabic: غبريال يارد; born 7 October 1949) is a Lebanese-French composer, best known for his work in French and American cinema. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Yared scored the French films ''Betty Blue'' and ''Camille Claud ...

Charts

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Next Best Thing, The 2000 films 2000 comedy-drama films 2000 LGBT-related films American comedy-drama films American LGBT-related films American pregnancy films 2000s English-language films Films directed by John Schlesinger Films produced by Gary Lucchesi Films produced by Tom Rosenberg Films set in California Films scored by Gabriel Yared Gay-related films Golden Raspberry Award winning films Lakeshore Entertainment films LGBT-related comedy-drama films Paramount Pictures films 2000s American films