Jump to content

The Next Best Thing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see The Next Best Thing (disambiguation).

The Next Best Thing
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Schlesinger
Written byTom Ropelewski
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyElliot Davis
Edited byPeter Honess
Music byGabriel Yared
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures (United States and Canada)
Lakeshore International (International)
Release date
  • March 3, 2000 (2000-03-03)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million
Box office$24.3 million[1]

The Next Best Thing is a 2000 American comedy drama 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, Rupert Everett, and Benjamin Bratt, it opened to the number-two position at the North American box office and poor critical reviews. The accompanying soundtrack album was appreciated by music critics. Its lead single, "American Pie", topped the charts in various countries, including Everett's native United Kingdom, where Madonna extended her record as the female artist with most number-one songs in the country.

Plot

[edit]

The film stars Madonna as Abbie Reynolds, a yoga instructor living in Los Angeles, and Rupert Everett as Robert, her gay best friend. After Abbie unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she decides to raise the child together with Robert, as they both share a deep bond of friendship.

As Abbie’s relationship with Ben deepens, Robert is left to grapple with his own feelings of loneliness, jealousy, and confusion. He has always been deeply fond of Abbie, but now, his affection for her begins to blur the lines between friendship and love. Struggling with his own unspoken desires, Robert finds himself increasingly sidelined as Abbie embraces her new romantic life with Ben. He begins to feel that his place in their little family is diminishing, and he fears that Abbie is drifting away from the idealized life they had built together.

This emotional turmoil leads to a series of conflicts, as Robert wrestles with the complicated nature of his feelings for Abbie and his own identity. He begins questioning whether he is simply a "second choice" in her life, and if the love he feels for her is ever going to be reciprocated in the way he hopes. Meanwhile, Abbie is torn between her responsibilities as a mother and her desire for a traditional family unit with Ben. She wants to maintain the close bond with Robert that has always existed but struggles with balancing the emerging family dynamics. In the end Ben and Abby marry and Abby shares joint custody of Sam with Robert and the 4 become a very strong big family.

Cast

[edit]

Cast taken from Variety and Turner Classic Movies listing of The Next Best Thing.[2][3]

Production

[edit]

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 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 Rupert Everett signed on as star. Filming took place between April 23 and June 30, 1999. It later was claimed the script was rewritten extensively by Ryan Murphy and Rupert Everett.[4]

Distribution

[edit]

Paramount Pictures distributed the film in North America while international sales were held by Lakeshore International. Buena Vista International acquired distribution rights from Lakeshore in most territories.

Reception

[edit]

Critical response

[edit]

The Next Best Thing 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."[5] On Metacritic, the film has rating of 25 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[6]

Variety commented: "The Next Best Thing to a good movie is a well-intentioned one, and at the end of the day, that less-than-compelling consolation prize is about the best thing one can hand this resoundingly adequate Advanced Family Values comedy-drama".[2] Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four, stating: "The Next Best Thing is a garage sale of gay issues, harnessed to a plot as exhausted as a junkman's horse."[7]

Box office

[edit]

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.[1]

Awards

[edit]
Award Category Recipient Result
YoungStar Award[8] Best Young Actor in a Comedy Film Malcolm Stumpf Nominated
GLAAD Media Award[9] Outstanding Film – Wide Release The Next Best Thing Nominated
Golden Raspberry Awards[10] Worst Picture The Next Best Thing Nominated
Worst Screenplay John Kohn and Robert Bentley Nominated
Worst Actress Madonna Won
Worst Screen Combo Madonna and Rupert Everett Nominated
Worst Director John Schlesinger Nominated
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards[11] Worst Actress and Musician or Athlete Who Shouldn't Be Acting Madonna Won

CNN film critic, Paul Clinton, named The Next Best Thing one of the Top 10 worst movies of 2000.[12] In 2020, Screen Rant ranked Madonna's performance among her best movie roles.[13]

Soundtrack

[edit]
Main article: The Next Best Thing (soundtrack)

Home media

[edit]

On August 26, 2000, Billboard announced the film will debut on DVD and VHS from Paramount Home Entertainment, although spokespeople would not confirm it.[14] The release debuted at number 20 on Billboard's Top DVD Sales,[15] and peaked at number 11 on the Top Video Rentals chart.[16] The Philadelphia Inquirer gave 2 out of four stars.[17]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b The Next Best Thing at Box Office Mojo
  2. ^ a b "The Next Best Thing". March 21, 2000. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  3. ^ "The Next Best Thing". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  4. ^ Nat Segaloff, Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors, Bear Manor Media 2013 p 258-260
  5. ^ The Next Best Thing at Rotten Tomatoes
  6. ^ The Next Best Thing at Metacritic Edit this at Wikidata
  7. ^ Ebert, Roger (3 March 2000). "The Next Best Thing". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Nominees announced for the hollywood reporter's fifth annual YoungStar awards; britney spears to receive starlight award". Business Wire. September 6, 2000. p. 1. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  9. ^ "GLAAD Announces Nominees For 12th Annual Media Awards Presented by Absolut Vodka". GLAAD. January 16, 2001. Archived from the original on April 9, 2001. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  10. ^ "'Battlefield' rules in Razzies' list of bad flicks". CNN. February 12, 2001. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  11. ^ Vice, Jeff (March 25, 2001). "'Battlefield Earth' sweeps the Stinkers". Deseret News. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  12. ^ Clinton, Paul (December 29, 2000). "The 10 worst movies of 2000". CNN. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  13. ^ Thompson, Rocco (April 27, 2020). "10 Madonna Movie Roles, Ranked". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  14. ^ Block, Debbie Galante (August 26, 2000). "Billboard's 4th Quarter Video Buyer's Guide". Billboard. p. 75. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
  15. ^ "Top DVD Sales: September 16, 2000". Billboard. September 16, 2000. p. 74. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
  16. ^ "Top Video Rentals: October 21, 2000". Billboard. October 21, 2000. p. 78. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
  17. ^ Cornell, Christopher (September 3, 2000). The Philadelphia Inquirer (ed.). "Video Reviews". The Telegraph-Herald. p. 68. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Next_Best_Thing&oldid=1293488699"