''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 (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, 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

as Abigail "Abbie" Reynolds * Rupert Everett as Robert Whittaker * Benjamin Bratt as Benjamin "Ben" Cooper * Michael Vartan as Kevin Lasater * Josef Sommer as Richard Whittaker * Lynn Redgrave as Helen Whittaker * Malcolm Stumpf as Samuel "Sam" * Neil Patrick Harris 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 t ...

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 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 i ...

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 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 s ...

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 ...

attached to star as Robert; he dropped out, then

Helen Hunt Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. Hunt rose to fame portraying Ja ...

was named as female lead to play Abbie. She was replaced by Madonna and then Rupert Everett 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, Bisexuality, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affe ...

. 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 – John Schlesinger * 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.

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, and Groove Armada.

Track listing

# "Boom Boom Ba" – Métisse # " Bongo Bong" – Manu Chao # "Don't Make Me Love You ('Til I'm Ready)" – Christina Aguilera # " 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 fou ...

# "If Everybody Looked the Same" – Groove Armada # "

Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" is a song by American electronica musician Moby. It was released on October 11, 1999, as the fourth single from his fifth studio album ''Play''. It became a hit in several regions, including German-speaking Europe ...

" –

# " 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