Product: The Next Best Thing (2000)
Rating: 1.0
Worst Thing
This movie is a major disappointment mostly because it has a great idea (a gay man and straight woman raising a child) but the movie ultimately sabotages it and the result is indulgent, dull and smug. Although Madonna and Rupert Everett have a nice chemistry, that's about the only good thing about the movie. The script is terrible and the choices made seem less from the director than Madonna and Rupert themselves. Madge insisted her character be changed from a school teacher to a yoga instructor. It's silly and Madonna, like in many of her films except for Evita and Swept Away, never connects with the character. The strange lighting (especially around Madonna's eyes) is distracting and seems to take on a new type of lighting in film: "The Light Madonna This Way Lighting Technique".A miserable experience.