Then She Found Me

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Then She Found Me" (THINKFilm) is a sometimes engaging but mostly humdrum tale about glum schoolteacher April (Helen Hunt) in midlife crisis. The film opens with her elaborate Jewish wedding, then flashes forward one year, with husband Ben (Matthew Broderick) informing her he thinks their union was a mistake. April is astonished, and attempts to win him back in a spontaneous act of lovemaking, but Ben still walks out.

As if that weren't enough, her adoptive mother (Lynn Cohen) dies soon after.

Learning that her birth mother -- who gave her up for adoption as an infant -- now wants to meet her, April reluctantly agrees to a luncheon reunion with Bernice Graves (Bette Midler), a gregarious local talk-show host.

Despite Bernice's warm and effusive manner, April spurns the proffered maternal affection, incredulous at the story that she is the love child of Bernice's fling with actor Steve McQueen.

At the grammar school where she teaches, April falls for Frank (Colin Firth), the eccentric father of one of her students, whose wife has left him. Despite April's embarrassment at the awkwardness of the situation, the two tentatively reach out to each other and soon begin a physical relationship.

It comes as a shock when she shortly after discovers she is pregnant from that final encounter with Ben.

But the narrative veers off beyond the predictable triangular setup you might expect with such developments as Ben and Frank accompanying her to the gynecologist (Salman Rushdie, of all people!).

Hunt -- looking realistically tired and drawn in the film -- directs herself and her cast, including some big-name cameos, competently.

However April may have come across in Elinor Lipman's 1990 novel, her character on-screen is frequently irksome. And though billed as a "dramedy," the predominant mood is downbeat.

Though most of the characters are Jewish, several plot points are problematic from a Catholic perspective, including the use of artificial insemination. (This plotline and several others in the script Hunt wrote -- with Vic Levin and Alice Arlen -- were apparently not in the book.)

A respect for God and life runs throughout the narrative, however, and one of the best scenes in the film occurs in the doctor's office where the disillusioned April shows an erosion of her faith, and Bernice gives her a stern talking-to about God. There's also a life-affirming scene where April and the main characters look with wonderment at April's sonogram. The script also treats adoption favorably.

The film contains nongraphic sexual encounters; some nonmarital, frank sexual talk; partial female nudity; profanity and some rough language; and artificial insemination. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops