Hunt, Helen

Then She Found Me

Like all the most intriguing titles, Then She Found Me lends itself to multiple interpretations. Does "she" refer to New York talk-show host Bernice (Bette Midler, in a welcome return to the screen), the self-proclaimed birth parent who enters the life of schoolteacher April (Oscar winner Helen Hunt) upon the death of her adoptive mother? Or does the pronoun refer to April, who meets divorced dad Frank (Colin Firth) the day her marriage to co-worker Ben (Matthew Broderick) comes to an abrupt halt? The surprising conclusion to Hunt's directorial debut suggests a third interpretation. In adapting Elinor Lipman's novel, Hunt treads well-worn ground, but does so with grace and sensitivity. When Ben walks out on his 39-year-old wife, she fears he's left with her chances of having a baby. As much as she enjoyed her childhood, April would prefer not to adopt, and with the support of her non-adopted brother, Freddy (Ben Shenkman), she struggles to reconcile her warm feelings towards the awkward Frank with her chilly reaction to the slippery Bernice. Though April has a hard time imagining they could be related, the teacher and the TV personality both want children in their lives, so it's not as if they lack a common bond. When April finds out she's pregnant, further complications ensue. Though Then She Found Me circles Lifetime movie-of-the-week territory, Hunt resists the urge to smooth away her characters' rough edges, investing her film with the crackle of real life. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

An all-star cast with memorable performances by Helen Hunt, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler and Colin Firth powers this smart, funny drama about love and destiny. Desperate to start a family, schoolteacher April Epner (Hunt) is thrown into confusion when she is unexpectedly abandoned by her husband (Broderick). She gets another shock when she meets her unusual birth mother (Midler), a self-centered talk show host who's not exactly the ideal mom. At first she rejects her, along with the attentions of a divorced dad (Firth), but then she begins to find her life opening up in ways she had never imagined.

Pay It Forward

Inspired by an assignment from his teacher, a young boy attempts to make the world a better place by doing good deeds for three strangers, paying them \""forward\"" instead of paying someone back.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 3-FEB-2004
Media Type: DVD

Pay It Forward is a multi-level marketing scheme of the heart. Beginning as a seventh-grade class assignment to put into action an idea that could change the world, young Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) comes up with a plan to do good deeds for three people who then by way of payment each must do good turns for three other people. These nine people also must pay it forward and so on, ad infinitum. If successful, the resulting network of do-gooders ought to comprise the entire world. Trevor's attempts to get the ball rolling include befriending a junkie (James Caviezel) and trying to set up his recovering-alcoholic mother (Helen Hunt) with his burn-victim teacher (Kevin Spacey), who posed the assignment.

While this could have turned into unmitigated schmaltz, the acting elevates this film to mitigated schmaltz. By turns powerful and measured, the performances of Spacey, Hunt, and Osment can't make up for the many missteps in a screenplay that sanitizes the look of the lower-middle class and expects us to believe that homeless alcoholics and junkies speak in the elevated manner of grad students. (Can that really be Angie Dickinson as Hunt's dispossessed mother? Yes, it is!) The germ of the story is a good one, though, and one may wonder how it would have been handled by the likes of Frank Capra, who could balance sentiment with humor. But clearly Capra would never have let the ending of his version to take the nosedive into cliché and pathos that director Mimi Leder has allowed in this film. More than a few viewers will also recognize that Leder has blatantly borrowed her final image from Field of Dreams, where its intended effect was more keenly and honestly felt. --Jim Gay

As Good As It Gets

Jack Nicholson Helen Hunt Greg Kinnear and Cuba Gooding Jr. star in James L. Brooks hit comedy As Good As It Gets. Nicholson gives a show-stopping performance as Melvin Udall an obsessive-compulsive novelist with Manhattans meanest mouth. But when his neighbor Simon is hospitalized Melvin is forced to baby-sit Simons dog. And that unexpected act of kindness-along with waitress Carol Connelly--helps put Melvin back in the human race. "Magically written directed and acted As Good As it gets is the best and funniest romantic comedy of the year."System Requirements:Starring: Jack Nicholson Helen Hunt Greg Kinnear Cuba Gooding Jr. and Skeet Ulrich Director: James L. Brooks Copyright: 1997 Columbia/Tri-Star Produced by Bridget Johnson Kristi Zea; written by Mark Andrus; DVD released on 05/19/1998; running time of 138 minutes; Closed Captioned. English 2-channel or 5.1 (Dolby Digital) Additional Language: French Subtitles: English Spanish and French Scene Selections Presented in Widescreen 1.85:1 Theatrical Aspect Ratio and Full Screen Format Commentary Track with Producer & Director James L. Brooks as well as actors Jack Nicholson Helen Hunt and Greg KinnearFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396217096 Manufacturer No: 21709

For all of its conventional plotting about an obsessive-compulsive curmudgeon (Jack Nicholson) who improves his personality at the urging of his gay neighbor (Greg Kinnear) and a waitress (Helen Hunt) who inspires his best behavior, this is one of the sharpest Hollywood comedies of the 1990s. Nicholson could play his role in his sleep (the Oscar he won should have gone to Robert Duvall for The Apostle), but his mischievous persona is precisely necessary to give heart to his seemingly heartless character, who is of all things a successful romance novelist. As a single mom with a chronically asthmatic young son, Hunt gives the film its conscience and integrity (along with plenty of wry humor), and she also won an Oscar for her wonderful performance. Greg Kinnear had to settle for an Oscar nomination (while cowriter-director James L. Brooks was inexplicably snubbed by Oscar that year), but his work was also singled out in the film's near-unanimous chorus of critical praise. It's questionable whether a romance between Hunt and the much older Nicholson is entirely believable, but this movie's smart enough--and charmingly funny enough--to make it seem endearingly possible. --Jeff Shannon

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt dance their way through Girls Just Want to Have Fun, a glorious example of 1980s kitsch. Janey (Parker), the new girl at a Catholic high school in Chicago, dreams of becoming a dancer on Dance TV. With the help of new wave hipster Lynne (Hunt), Janey enters a dance contest and gets paired with Jeff (Lee Montgomery), a rebel in spandex, and the two are soon smitten with each other. Unfortunately, they've made an enemy of a snooty rich girl, who vows to take them down. Everything about Girls Just Want to Have Fun is cheap and cheesy--it doesn't even have the Cyndi Lauper version of the title song--but that doesn't make it any less goofily entertaining, particularly when a debutante ball is wrecked by a bizarre combination of punk rockers and female bodybuilders. Featuring a very young Shannen Doherty as Jeff's little sister. --Bret Fetzer

Janey (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a shy good girl. Lynne (Helen Hunt) is a cool rock chick. But when the two scheme to get Janey on television's biggest after-school dance show, they find themselves on a wild adventure filled with cute boys, hot dancing, prudish nuns, mean rich kids, parents that don't understand, and girls doing what they know best--just having fun!

Twister

Formerly married but still involved scientists pursue violent tornadoes in an effort to launch sensors which might help them predict future storms.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 14-SEP-2004
Media Type: DVD

Twister was a mega-million-dollar blockbuster--helmed by a director (Dutchman Jan de Bont) hot off another scorcher hit (Speed)--that flaunted state-of-the-art digital effects and featured a popular leading actress (Helen Hunt) who would win an Academy Award for her next film (As Good As It Gets). But ask anybody who's seen it and they'll tell you who the real star of Twister is: the cow. Not to give anything away, but the cow is one of those inspired little touches (like, say, Bronson Pinchot's career-making cameo in Beverly Hills Cop) that adds a touch of personality to a gigantic Hollywood production. The story is blown out the window after an impressive prologue in which Hunt's character, as a little girl, witnesses her daddy being sucked into a tornado. Basically, Hunt and Bill Paxton are thrill-seeking meteorologists chasing twisters in order to study them (and help warn people of them, of course) with a new technology they've developed. If you thought the Kansas tornado in The Wizard of Oz was every bit as scary as the Wicked Witch of the West, then this may be the movie for you. --Jim Emerson

Peggy Sue Got Married

A woman goes to her 25th high school reunion and is sent back in time-- giving herself a chance to change her life and create a different future.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 23-MAR-2004
Media Type: DVD

Francis Ford Coppola's passable 1986 comedy stars Kathleen Turner as an unhappy, middle-aged woman who goes back in time to her high school years and meets her future husband (Nicolas Cage) all over again. A lightweight entry from Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now), the film has some clever, backward-looking jokes (Turner's character laughs incredulously when someone turns up with a brand-new Edsel); and the lead actress does bring intelligence and searching emotions to her role. Cage (Coppola's nephew), who specialized in these dumb-guy roles back then (see Raising Arizona), is in sharp, raw form. Worth a visit, but don't expect to be bowled over this time by the legendary director. The DVD release has optional full-screen and widescreen presentations, theatrical trailer, optional Spanish soundtrack and optional Spanish and French subtitles. --Tom Keogh

What Women Want

A Chicago advertising exec Nick Marshall (Mel Gibson) gets a whole new outlook on life when a fluke accident gives him the ability to read women's minds. At first this gift provides Nick with way too much information but he begins to realize that he can use it to good effect especially when it comes to outwitting his new boss Darcy McGuire (Helen Hunt). In spite of his best efforts to finesse Darcy he soon finds himself falling in love and ultimately understanding what women want.System Requirements:Starring: Mel Gibson Judy Greer Sarah Paulson Ana Gasteyer Diana-Maria Riva Lisa Edelstein Loretta Devine Helen Hunt Marisa Tomei Alan Alda Ashley Johnson Mark Feuerstein Lauren Holly Delta Burke and Valerie Perrine. Directed By: Nancy Meyers. Running Time: 90 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 Paramount Pictures.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 097363383840

It must've made for a great pitch meeting: Male chauvinist advertising executive gains the ability to hear the thoughts of any woman around him. Add Mel Gibson--as Nick, the divorced "man's man" who can charm almost any woman into bed--and you've got high-concept comedy made in Hollywood heaven, right? Not necessarily. The smartest thing director Nancy Meyers did with What Women Want is dispose of this ludicrous plot contrivance before it wears out its welcome. It's fun to see Mel react to a deafening chorus of female thoughts, but his dubious "gift"--courtesy of an accidental electro-shock in his bathtub--is a mixed blessing for the audience. The women in Nick's life conveniently think in complete sitcom-friendly sentences, and the novelty quickly wears thin.

The movie improves by focusing on the fallout of Nick's predicament. Exploiting his unfair advantage, he sabotages the career of his new boss (Helen Hunt) even as he's falling in love with her; says all the right things to the aspiring actress (Marisa Tomei) who previously spurned his advances; and uses mind reading to curry favor with his 15-year-old daughter (Ashley Johnson). This two-faced scheming isn't malicious, however, and What Women Want is blessed by Gibson's amiably nuanced performance. His graceful riff on Fred Astaire is a dazzling surprise, and as Nick reforms, Gibson takes major credit for whatever depth this movie achieves. After a bit of nonsense, What Women Want has a lot to say about male and female behavior, be it noble or unappealing. It's both amusing and truthful, and that's almost as fun as a glimpse into someone else's brain. --Jeff Shannon

Cast Away (Widescreen Edition)

Cast Away is a good movie that wants to be much better. While director Robert Zemeckis's earlier film Contact achieved a kind of mainstream spiritual significance, Cast Away falls just short of that goal. That may explain why the film's most emotionally powerful scene involves the loss of an inanimate object, even as it presents a heart-rending dilemma in its very human final act.

It's three movies in one, beginning when punctuality-obsessed Federal Express systems engineer Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) departs on Christmas Eve to escort an ill-fated flight of FedEx packages. Following a mid-Pacific plane crash, movie number two chronicles Chuck's four-year survival on a remote island, totally alone save for a Wilson volleyball (aptly named "Wilson") that becomes Chuck's closest "friend." Movie number three leads up to Chuck's rescue and an awkward encounter with his ex-girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt, in a thankless role), for whom Chuck has seemingly risen from the grave.

It's fascinating to witness Chuck's emerging survival skills, and Hanks's remarkable physical transformation is matched by his finely tuned performance. With slow, rhythmic camera moves and brilliant use of sound, Zemeckis wisely avoids the postcard prettiness of The Black Stallion and The Blue Lagoon to emphasize the harshness of Chuck's ascetic solitude, and this stylistic restraint allows Cast Away to resonate more than one might expect. Even the final scene--which feels like a crowd-pleasing compromise--offers hope without shoving it down our throats. You may not feel the emotional rush that you're meant to feel, but Cast Away remains a respectable effort. --Jeff Shannon

Cast Away is a good movie that wants to be much better. While director Robert Zemeckis's earlier film Contact achieved a kind of mainstream spiritual significance, Cast Away falls just short of that goal. That may explain why the film's most emotionally powerful scene involves the loss of an inanimate object, even as it presents a heart-rending dilemma in its very human final act.

It's three movies in one, beginning when punctuality-obsessed Federal Express systems engineer Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) departs on Christmas Eve to escort an ill-fated flight of FedEx packages. Following a mid-Pacific plane crash, movie number two chronicles Chuck's four-year survival on a remote island, totally alone save for a Wilson volleyball (aptly named "Wilson") that becomes Chuck's closest "friend." Movie number three leads up to Chuck's rescue and an awkward encounter with his ex-girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt, in a thankless role), for whom Chuck has seemingly risen from the grave.

It's fascinating to witness Chuck's emerging survival skills, and Hanks's remarkable physical transformation is matched by his finely tuned performance. With slow, rhythmic camera moves and brilliant use of sound, Zemeckis wisely avoids the postcard prettiness of The Black Stallion and The Blue Lagoon to emphasize the harshness of Chuck's ascetic solitude, and this stylistic restraint allows Cast Away to resonate more than one might expect. Even the final scene--which feels like a crowd-pleasing compromise--offers hope without shoving it down our throats. You may not feel the emotional rush that you're meant to feel, but Cast Away remains a respectable effort. --Jeff Shannon

Tom Hanks "gives one of the towering screen performances of all time" (New York Post) as Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose ruled-by-the-clock existence abruptly ends when a harrowing plane crash leaves him isolated on a remote island. As Chuck

A Good Woman

Set in the 1930s on the beautiful shores of the Italian Riviera A Good Woman follows the seductive Mrs. Erlynne (Hunt) scorned by many as a woman of ill repute leaves New York for the Amalfi coast where she hopes to find a new patron among the vacationing aristocrats. The mean-spirited gossip stirred up by Mrs. Erlynne s arrival isn t enough to dissuade the jovial kind-hearted Lord Augustus (Wilkinson) from falling in love with her.But Mrs. Erlynne has already set her sights on the married Robert Windermere (Mark Umbers) a wealthy young American who falls quickly under her spell. Windermere s faithful wife Meg (Johansson) is herself distracted by the flirtatious overtures of Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell Moore) a notorious playboy. But when she learns of her husband s blossoming affair Meg resorts to drastic measures with unexpected consequences for everyone involved.System Requirements:Running Time: 93 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG UPC: 031398185789 Manufacturer No: 18578

Scarlett Johannson and Helen Hunt give Oscar Wilde's popular play Lady Windermere's Fan a lavish jazz-age treatment in A Good Woman. An adventuress (Hunt, As Good as It Gets) flees scandal in New York and lands in Italy, where she crosses paths with a young businessman (David Hasselhoff look-alike Mark Umbers) and his very upright young wife (Johansson, Lost in Translation). Before long, tongues are wagging about the adventuress and the businessman, possibly driving the wife to a rash act. A Good Woman retains Wilde's plot--though its 19th century moral concerns don't have the same punch in 1930s Italy--and tosses aside most of his impeccable dialogue, sprinkling his clever epigrams here and there in the otherwise undistinguished dialogue. Johansson, perhaps the most physically sensual actress since Brigitte Bardot, is miscast as the moral prig; Hunt, looking pinched and austere, is miscast as the jaded courtesan. The movie's great saving grace is Tom Wilkinson as a rich man who hopes Hunt will warm his older years. Wilkinson brings a worldly benevolence to every moment he's on screen, making the lines that weren't written by Wilde sound as crisp and wise as if they were. --Bret Fetzer