''The Next Best Thing'' is a 2000 American comedy-drama 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,

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 pup ...

, and Benjamin Bratt, 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

* Madonna as Abigail "Abbie" Reynolds *

as Robert Whittaker * Benjamin Bratt as Benjamin "Ben" Cooper * Michael Vartan 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 Ar ...

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. B ...

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 as Elizabeth Ryder *

Mark Valley Mark Thomas Valley (born December 24, 1964) is an American film and television actor, best known for his roles as Brad Chase in the TV drama ''Boston Legal'', Oliver Richard in the NBC drama ''Harry's Law'', FBI Special Agent John Scott in the F ...

as Cardiologist *

Suzanne Krull Suzanne Krull (July 8, 1966 – July 27, 2013) was an American actress. Early years Born in New York City, Krull attended South Shore High School in Brooklyn, New York, and Agoura High School in Agoura, California. She was a graduate of the ...

as Annabel * Stacy Edwards as Finn * William Mesnik as Ashby * Linda Larkin as Kelly *

Adam Marlow Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

as Baby

Production

The film began as an original screenplay titled ''The Red Curtain'' by Tom Ropelewski, which he intended to direct, with his wife Leslie Dixon 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 th ...

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$5,870,387, behind '' The Whole Nine Yards''. 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 li ...

. Madonna won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress, and the film was nominated for other Razzies including: * Worst Director –

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

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was released by Maverick Records on February 21, 2000. It reached number 34 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart. Madonna 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) 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 Weather ...

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 o ...

, 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 ...

Track listing

# "Boom Boom Ba" – Métisse # " Bongo Bong" –

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 h ...

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

# " American Pie" – Madonna # "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

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