Product: The Next Best Thing (2000)
Rating: 3.0
Not as horrible as I thought, but still nothing special
I wanted to hate this movie because I'm no fan of Madonna, but also because its platitudes against traditional families are themselves old fashioned. (It's hard to get uptight when the biggest act of rebellion the friends of an AIDS victim can aspire to is to break into a slow chorus of "American Pie at his funeral). In the film, Maddona and Rupert Everett play best friends in a dreamy LA when, one night in a drunken frenzy, they conceive a baby and decide to stick it out. Not amrrying, they decide to become parents nonetheless, never realizing how these seemingly unconnected aspects of their relationship will tear them apart. After a few years pass, and the baby grows into boyhood, Abbie's (Madonna) relationship with an ambitious but otherwise completely genial investment banker (Ben Bratt) threatens to tear apart what was never a solidly defined family. A court battle ensues, ala Kramer v. Kramer, and it's never clear which side is supposed to be representing the love of a child over family convention.The plot never really gels, and Rupert Everett's charachter loses something in the last third when he becomes more confrontational, and less fun-loving than in the film's opening (or in "My Best Friend's Wedding"). Maddonna is a revelation, though. She can't act, but Abbie's charachter touches a nerve that not even Maddonna can resist: aging. When you watch Abbie grouse over wrinkles and sagging in a mirror, sadly admitting it's not 1989 anymore, you'll be willing to forgive every line of cheesy acting she's ever read. It's almost enough to mke we want to rent "Shanghai Surprise."