Product: The Next Best Thing (2000)
Rating: 2.0
The Next Best Thing was to never have made this film...
In viewing the film, I happened to miss the opening titles, but in sumbmitting this review, I was shocked to find that John Schlesinger, one of my all time favorite directors, had something to do with this nonsense. Plus it hardly has a happy ending. Gay man and straight woman try to raise young son... all is not well on the homefront!Madonna, first off looks horrid. Despite a well toned body, she has become frightening for me to look at. Though her acting is always slightly above average, the trite dialogue is not pulled off by either her or the always fine performances of Rupert Everett.On another note, I'm actually beginning to believe that Neil Patrick Harris is gay. (Didn't he turn up on Will & Grace last season?) This actor is so talented! After all, we all believed that Doogie Howser really WAS a doctor! His emotional performance of a man that looses his lover to AIDS should not go unnoticed.A few years back, there was a film that was similar in subject matter called The Object Of My Affection, with Jennifer Aniston, which ran circles around this movie. Mainly because it included something known as "a good script". Something this film clearly doesn't have.On the plus side, you have to give Schlesinger credit though for bringing to the screen what other directors would never in a million years. Next time John, read the script first.