The Next Best Thing

So bad it's good. Or something. At least, I didn't actually vomit up my Hungry-Man TV Dinner -- I sat glued to the screen, fascinated with Madonna's vapid-rapid-blink "acting" style, Benjamin Bratt's inability to manufacture charm, and the fact that... Read more at imdb.com

Madonna plays a women let down by one man too many. In a night of drunken excess, she sleep with her best friend - who happens to be gay. She is pregnant as a result and they decide to set... Read more at imdb.com

Before even seeing the movie I was sure that I was going to love it. It featured one of my most favorite entertainers, Madonna, and an amazing talents of Rupert Everett. Unfortunately the only thing I could do from turn... Read more at imdb.com

To be honest, I was not expecting big things from this film. Although I love Madonna as a performer, her choice of film projects has not always been spectacular. Indeed, most have been completely dire. But I was actually rather... Read more at imdb.com

I almost felt I watching tv-movie on Hallmark. Especially the last 45 minutes are like in tv-movie. The movie begins with comedy touch and later it becomes boring drama. Madonna is ok in this movie, but the film doesn't have... Read more at imdb.com

It's important to note that when I decided to watch this movie for the first and only time, I had high expectations. Although Madonna is usually always bashed by one or all critics in every movie she's done, but often,... Read more at imdb.com

Acting awful, story awful, direction awful. The movie seemed really slow, choppy, and lacking in dialogue most of the time - ridiculous story. Literally the worst movie I have ever seen - it's even worse than The Patriot (Steven Segal). Though,... Read more at imdb.com

I cannot believe John Schlesinger directed this mess. The man who made "Midnight Cowboy" and "Maraton Man" would end his movie career affiliating himself with one of the worst actresses known to mankind: Madonna. Why he would use Madonna for... Read more at imdb.com

I'm with songman018. I give it an 8 rather than a 10, but I agree with everything he said about it. I'm shocked at how poorly this has rated among IMDB members. I would've read some other comments to get... Read more at imdb.com

I had high hopes for this -- really, I did. I thought it would be a sweet, charming and tugging-at-the-heartstrings comedy. But I was TOO hopeful.Story in one sentence: two best friends (one gay, one straight) end up in bed... Read more at imdb.com

With the unprecedented abomination called "The Next Best Thing," they have. One of the more hypnotic moments of pop navel-gazing I've seen was a VH-1 special two years ago in which Madonna walks her "Next Best Thing" co-star Rupert Everett through her years as a slum chick, subsisting in New York's rancid nether regions. ... Full Review

ARTS ROUNDUP ``The Next Best Thing'' is the pop star's latest attempt to prove her acting chops. The Next Best Thing'' is really two movies: the first, a light comedy climaxing the night Abbie and Robert (Everett) get wildly drunk and accidentally conceive a child; the second, a child-custody drama that's triggered by Abbie's romance with Ben, a seemingly perfect man played by Benjamin Bratt. ... Full Review

The Next Best Thing,'' which opens today, is the pop diva's latest attempt to prove her acting chops and build a movie career to match her success as a recording artist. Not at Her `Best' In `The Next Best Thing,' Madonna isn't the daring diva we know and love ... Full Review

The Next Best Thing is far from the best or even the next best thing to an insightful look at non-traditional parenting. Everett easily upstages Madonna in the film's early scenes because she is no match for his cutting wit. ... Full Review

Technically, too, the movie looks sloppy with obvious moments of lousy looping of actors' voices. Madonna co-stars as a Los Angeles yoga teacher on the re-bound from her latest romantic disaster with yet another loser who looks GQ but acts like a Neanderthal. ... Full Review

Drop-dead-gorgeous Robert doesn't really think about the gene pool until he finds himself pushed into it.As the result of their both getting pretty darn drunk on July 4, Robert has a one-night-only experiment with heterosexuality. ... Full Article

When I recently talked to an over-the-hill fellow movie critic, he pointed out that The Next Best Thing is not receiving favorable reviews."That's just old people who don't like Madonna", I explained to him. ... Full Article

Plot Abbie is a disillusioned single who decides to have and raise a baby with her gay best friend. When their son is only young, though, she falls in love and wants to move away Review Castigated on its release... ... Full Article

Can it really have been two long years since The Object of My Affection made us laugh and cry with its tale of two best friends (an unlucky in love gal and her gay male roommate) and how they decide... ... Full Article

John Schlesinger ( Midnight Cowboy , Sunday Bloody Sunday ) should be forcibly retired from filmmaking before his reputation as a world-class director is completely shot to hell. ... Full Article