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Then She Found Me
THINKFilm


4.5

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 24 votes
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Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R for language and some sexual content

Starring Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick, and Ben Shankman

Adapted from Elinor Lipman’s novel of the same name, Helen Hunt makes her feature directing debut with Then She Found Me, a touching story of schoolteacher April Epner and her very unlikely path towards personal fulfillment. Following the separation from her husband and the death of her adopted mother, April is contacted by her apparent birth mother, who turns out to be a local talk show host Bernice Graves. As Bernice tries to become the mother to April that she was never able to be, April seems to find solace in the arms of the parent of one of her students, only to find that the mystery to life's questions cannot be solved by a simple revelation. (THINKFilm)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Helen Hunt Vic Levin Alice Arlen
DIRECTED BY:	Helen Hunt
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 2, 2008 Theatrical: April 25, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	100 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA
LANGUAGE(S):	English / Hebrew

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Variety Joe Leydon

A smart, subtle and seriously funny dramedy bound to find favor with sophisticated auds.

The New Yorker David Denby

With the screenwriters Alice Arlen and Victor Levin, Hunt adapted the story from a 1990 novel by Elinor Lipman, and has turned the material into a fine, tense, unpredictable comedy of mixed-up emotions and sudden illuminations.

Chicago Tribune Sid Smith

A strength of Then She Found Me, from Elinor Lipman's novel, is its straightforward, uncomplicated storytelling that keeps the threads untangled and blends the everyday and the absurd with natural ease.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

While there are plenty of laughs, Hunt doesn't play this for farce. Even Midler gives perhaps the most restrained, and arguably the most winning, performance of her screen career.

Entertainment Weekly Clark Collis

Hunt's movie-directing debut frequently crackles with nice gags.

TV Guide Ken Fox

This is Hunt's show, and she delivers a strong performance that captures all the seriousness and absurdity of the avalanche of circumstances that comes crashing down on April's head. To say she's only half the director she is an actress is actually paying her quite a complement.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

The new movie shrieks of motherhood - raising hot-button issues like biological clocks running down, the rights of birth mothers and whether to adopt or give artificial insemination a shot.

The Hollywood Reporter John DeFore

With subtle laughs but solid emotional thrust, it will play very well with older audiences.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Then She Found Me, a serious comedy, is more impressive for what it refuses to do than for its modest accomplishment.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

There's something about Hunt's put-upon persona that grates, and it would be nice to see her for once in a role that doesn't call on her to be so angry, short-tempered and disappointed all the time...Still, all in all, Then She Found Me is a warm, entertaining and well-made little movie and an auspicious debut for Hunt the director.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

While Hunt's directing debut is promising, if understated, it's her performance as schoolteacher April Epner that impresses the audience.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Some may dismiss Then She Found Me as a mere "women's film," but it's really a more honest and mature take on sex and the city.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

What ought to be a bittersweet movie about a woman's momentary unraveling feels like a workout class: Cardio melodrama.

USA Today Claudia Puig

There are some wise observations about parenting. Hunt draws some good performances from the cast and wisely chose a low-key personal story for her directorial debut.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

The plot, as hinted, goes strictly by the "How April Got Her Groove Back" book, but it must be said that the performances push it a notch above pedestrian.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

This whole movie has zero chemistry. Broderick and Hunt are a match made in hell; Firth and Hunt are a match made in limbo.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The material is so charged that it threatens to electrocute any who would touch it. Yet from the moment that Bette Midler, as Bernice the bio-Mom, appears, she becomes the instrument of its emotional release, catharsis teetering on high heels.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

No, there isn't anything wrong with comfort entertainment. Then She Found Me could have, should have been something special - a "Knocked Up" for weary boomers. The only hitch is that it isn't all that entertaining. Nor comforting for that matter.

Newsweek David Ansen

There's a quirky, honest movie struggling to emerge from Then She Found Me (April's Jewish heritage is refreshingly portrayed, and there are lovely, scattered moments when the characters surprise you), but Hunt, in her directorial debut, can't seem to decide whether she'd rather make a spicy ethnic dish or bland comfort food.

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

In short, it's the kind of film that only a mother, which is to say my mother, would love.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

With Midler missing in action much of the time, the film drowns in a sea of thudding earnestness.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Has some nice moments, but it feels very much like a first film. The pacing is off, and the cast members appear to be acting in completely different projects.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Hunt's crabby performance weighs on the film, though it's nothing compared to Colin Firth's scenery-chewing turn as her self-lacerating new beau.

Washington Post John Anderson

Suffers from, if anything, a lack of pure confidence in the story, the actors or the audience.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This is the sort of movie that gives "chick flicks" a bad name. It's a cross between inept melodrama and a bad sit-com.

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

Overall, the film is lost and never found. In her first shot as director, Hunt seems direction-less.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A bizarre, overcooked broth that combines a broad sitcom style (the banter goes rat-tat-tat like a steam drill) with a preposterous succession of plot complications, plus solemn questions of identity, adoption and the nature of happiness.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.5 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Sam M. gave it an8:
A very enjoyable movie, definitely worth seeing if you like seeing a romance with highs and lows.

N H gave it a9:
This film was much better than I was expecting. The theme of life being difficult and messy - but worth it - really showed through. And not least of all, Colin Firth looked wonderful.

Anthony gave it a0:
Terrible all around, jumpy editing, stale acting, and Skeletor in the main acting role.

Sandra D. gave it an8:
April seems very real. I'll be anxious to see Helen Hunt's next directorial release.

Kris L. gave it a9:
Not an absolutely perfect movie, but I often found it funny, and, at the end, moving. It does play with cliches, but it also steps way beyond them. The plot is complicated, and the least realistic thing about the movie, but all the twists and turns all turn out to be necessary, to get where the movie is going. The acting is over all fine, and Bette Midler is great! If you want Helen Hunt to be cute, and her men to be immature in endearing ways, as opposed to fairly realistic ones, and everything to turn out just like it "should," this is not your movie. If you want to drop your judgments and prepare to be surprised -- try this movie. If you have ever been angry at God, and neither lost your faith nor pretended that anger away -- especially try this movie.

Saul P. gave it a1:
This movie is a stinker. One of the worst movies I've seen. Awkward acting by the leads and impossible dialogue make it make for a frightful 100 minutes. Had Hunt had a director much of the amateur stuff could have been avoided. There is nothing in found me that good. The screen play especially grievous. Other professional reviewers have mum on just how bad this movie is. Shame on them !

Jan W. gave it a1:
an unpleasant evening spent in the theater getting through this vanity project. Hunt says again and again and again that just one layer underneath, each of the characters is 100% autobiographical. I believe the whiny overwrought, put upon character she plays, deep wrinkles and all, absolutely is her. The rest who knows. Also, Hunt has lamented how long it took her to raise the money and how hard it was to get this off the ground over a ten year period and how hard it was to make the movie on a shoestring, didn't pay the other actors, etc....she made $1 million per episode the last year of her sitcom, made tens of millions for her movies post-Oscar, is dating the writer/executive producer of a tv series -- why didn't she stop her whining years ago and put up the money for this tiny budget movie herself or ask her baby daddy to chip in. Bizarre on every level and it shows in the film.

Then She Found Me THINKFilm

Then She Found Me
THINKFilm