Review of The Next Best Thing

What seemed like a good idea at the time ends up being quite a disappointment on the big screen. Apart from a script that's heavy-laden with banal lines, too many ideas and moods, and a particularly wooden performance from Madonna (she only really shines a few times, it's a continuity-obsessed viewer's nightmare. At one time, Rupert tells us it's the 21st Century (how modern), yet a few scenes later, he's at a gravesite of a recently departed person, and the headstone says 1953 - 1992! Then, there's no apparent ageing or fashion changes in six years, and Madonna's comparing her breasts in 1999 to what they were in 1989! It's a dog's breakfast really. And the film does not satisfactorily address the whole gay parent issue. It tries to, but it keeps shying away from the more sensitive issues (such as explaining to Sam the son that his dad is gay, and why faggot is not a good term to describe him). And as for the totally unbelievable developments and the ridiculous supermarket scene, well, the less said the better. Abbie may have been looking for the next best thing, and she certainly got it with this film, a less successful copy of The Object of My Affection, which was, while still cheesy, had at least some credibility.