Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Then She Found Me Blu-ray Movie Review

Flawed characters abound in this freshmen directorial effort from Helen Hunt.

Reviewed by Lindsay Mayer September 14, 2008

Back in the mid-90's, actress Helen Hunt - best known and beloved for her role as Jamie Buchman in the U.S. television sitcom Mad About You - read a humble little work of fiction by Elinor Lipman titled Then She Found Me. Published in 1990, the novel so enchanted Hunt that she began on a long journey (or a quest, if you will) to adapt the book into a feature length film. Being a low-budget independent piece, money was a consistent problem, as was the amount of time needed to piece the project together.

Hunt believed it to be worthwhile, however. The actress-turned-director admits to having something of a fascination with stories like Then She Found Me. The plot, while humorous, contains difficult and painful subject matter that anchors it and creates a sympathetic, human tone. Feeling so close to the material, Hunt opted not only to direct the film herself, but contribute to the screenplay and play the part of the protagonist - one April Epner. A grade school teacher who was adopted at early age, April knows nothing of her true heritage, though she has always felt something of a rift from her adoptive Jewish family, the classic no-nonsense New Yorkers.

How does she keep getting closer when I don't even see her moving?!

The opening credits roll on April's wedding to Ben (Matthew Broderick), a soft-spoken fellow teacher with a maturity level that seems to have suffered from arrested development. The burdens of married life are clearly too much for the boy, and he and April separate only 10 months down the line. April is at a crossroads; though she is intelligent and lives a relatively stable life, she is pummeled by a multitude of stressful events in rapid succession. A lingering anxiety about having a child of her own flesh and blood existed even before she wed; April is just shy of 40 years and adamantly refuses to adopt. After Ben walks out, a death in the family further rattles her, and matters are not much improved when Ben resigns from his teaching position the day after.

But what does all of this have to do with the film's title, you may ask? Enter Bette Midler, playing the chirpy morning talk show host Bernice Graves. Bernice's producer and close friend Alan (John Benjamin Hickey) approaches April at work in the midst of the fray, inviting her to a restaurant to speak with her biological mother. Nonplussed, but admittedly curious, April encounters Bernice at this "appointment." Boisterous, extroverted and over the moon about finding her daughter again, Bernice overwhelms April with her enthusiasm, and at the same time does not seem too willing to be frank with important information. Skeptical and annoyed, April doesn't want anything to do with the unctuous woman.

Another difficult yet far more attractive facet of April's life is fast unfolding anyway. Frank (Colin Firth), a divorced father of one of her young students, is a fellow broken soul and the two take to each other very quickly, despite trepidations on both sides. Frank is abandoned by his spouse to care for his two young children on his own, and in his plight, has become sleepless and despondent. Still, April sees a kindred spirit in him, and the two begin to date, albeit with some reservation. It is in this time that April is informed, via DNA testing, that Bernice really is her mother, but she has been lying about key details like who April's father was, and the aftermath her pregnancy brought about with her own parents. Throughout the film, April behaves in a push-pull manner with these three prominent figures in her life - her mother, her boyfriend, and her ex-husband. Bernice tenaciously hangs around through all of April's righteous anger, and Frank keeps giving April chances when she seems ambivalent, or bounces back back with Ben.

As if it was not enough of an interpersonal mess, April discovers she's pregnant - and it is a pre-break up conception by Ben. The triangle grows even more awkward (with amusing sequences at the doctor's office and such), and things do not progress well for anyone involved. These difficult setbacks are the obligatory low point of the film, and unsurprisingly it is Midler's relentlessly upbeat, flawed-but-lovable Bernice who pulls April out of the pit. In the end, April and Frank resolve their misgivings, though April makes it clear their relationship will not be easy. Bernice becomes an accepted part of the motley family, and April, indeed, has a child to call her own. Some may have seen it coming, others not, but the story nevertheless closes with a "life goes on," tone.

Hunt's effort, with all of its bittersweet twists, still feels like your typical chick flick. There is romance, tinged with sadness. There is drama laced with humor. Conceptually complex, but the story and its characters still feel clichéd and sometimes difficult to relate. One particularly noticeable foible was the exchange of dialogue and even the body language between Frank and April. Conversation is fired off at a rapid, well-rehearsed speed that feels utterly unrealistic, even for a movie. Likewise, the neurotic manner in which the two moved and acted was inexplicably annoying and even unnerving. It's rather hard to relate to two wannabe Woody Allen characters. Speaking of, Broderick's character is quite noticeably dropped without any proper closure about halfway through the third act; even though Ben is not the most sympathetic of characters, he should still have been addressed and "dealt with" in a satisfactory manner by the film's denouement.

Though I won't include spoilers here, the conclusion itself is a bit anticlimactic, and April's character arch doesn't feel like it's really "touched down" to the opposite ground yet. Her decisions as a mother seem oddly generic and out of the blue at the same time, and feel like something of a cop-out. Then again, maybe a stilted ending is the natural result of a stilted film. Though the cast appear to make the best out of what they have to work with, the film as a whole never seems to properly gel. But maybe I'm just not sentimental enough!

Then She Found Me Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

With an AVC encoding and an average bitrate of 25 Mbps, Then She Found Me looks adequate for a Blu-ray release, though never really pops from the screen. A fine amount of film grain is present throughout, and detail is generally well preserved. This beast is a low-key "dramedy" of course, and the focus is not on colorful sets or flashy mise-en-scène. Much of the time the color palette is drab and muted even by "real life" standards. Still, flesh tones are accurate and whatever brighter hues that are present are reproduced nicely. Light and shadow detail are good, as is the rich level of blacks that appear. Textures of skin and cloth are distinguishable, and the dingy urban feel of New York City is overall well depicted. Still, being a "conversation piece" kind of a film doesn't necessarily mean it's doomed to look drab; the recently reviewed Smart People is a grain-tastic example of how sharp these types of films can really look. As it is, the picture of Then She Found Me services the story well enough without much flashiness.

Then She Found Me Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blu-ray release of Then She Found Me is provided with two audio tracks; this round's lossless choice is a DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix, as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 option. Just as with the picture, the audio is good, although not an impressive, elaborate mix. It simply does not need to be, in all fairness. This heavily dialogue-driven film keeps most of the action in the center channel, though the fronts and rears are used for plenty of ambiance, indoors and out. LFE is hardly present, unsurprisingly, as there isn't a whole heck of a lot to go "boom" in this film. The best compliment to the aural presentation is it contributed greatly to the speaking clarity of the characters, and there is hardly a muddled word to be encountered. Again, not the flashiest of films in terms of visuals or sound, but the audio is clear and unsullied and services the material well.

Then She Found Me Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

A scant amount of extra features - most of it light and repetitive fare - are to be found on this release. Helen Hunt's Audio Commentary is the meatiest part, wherein the actor/filmmaker extraordinaire recalls the difficulties of getting film production underway, as well as the responsibilities of working with a sizable cast and crew, especially when it is one's first time at the helm. Her topics of conversation seem plagued with the typical "so-and-so was great to work with," etc. - but become thankfully more substantial when she discusses such things as the film's themes and the literary source material.

A standard definition Featurette of about 12 minutes briefly summarizes the history and making of the film, and interviews with the main cast start becoming redundant awfully fast when providing what feels like stock responses to the same superficial queries. "It was Helen that brought me to this project," etc. etc. ad nauseum. The Interviews feel like extensions of that same vein of conversation. Also in standard def and running about 15 minutes, an interviewer that seemed no older or more professional than a high school girl asks the main cast - Hunt, Midler, Firth and Broderick - the same list of questions, and she receives varying degrees of the same answer, really. It is the very definition of fluff, and the forgettable material certainly does not warrant a second viewing. Finally, a Theatrical Trailer is included in the film's original aspect ratio, though curiously in standard definition.

Then She Found Me Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's hard to determine what kind of crowd Then She Found Me is aimed at. Adoptees and their families? Hunt herself said the film is not primarily about adoption. Single parents? Maybe. Chick flick connoisseurs? Kinda sorta. Though an admirable directorial debut by Hunt, and containing strong performances from the likes of Firth and Midler, Then She Found Me is ultimately forgettable. It is rather telling that I couldn't even remember the character's names come review time. Thank you IMDb!

With a decent picture presentation and nice sound, the Blu-ray release is undoubtedly the best this film will look for quite some time. The extra features are unfortunately a bit sparse, and lack forthright conversation in lieu of standard procedure fluff topics, but it is a serviceable release overall. Devoted fans of the film's actors may be curious to check this title out, but otherwise, Then She Found Me will probably float under the radar for most.