The Next Best Thing

The Next Best Thing is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by John Schlesinger (his final feature film before his death in 2003) about two best friends who have a child together and a custody battle years after. Starring Madonna, Rupert Everett, and Benjamin Bratt, it opened to the number-two position in the North American box office and poor critical reviews.

For other uses, see The Next Best Thing (disambiguation).
The Next Best Thing
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Schlesinger
Written byTom Ropelewski
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyElliot Davis
Edited byPeter Honess
Music byGabriel Yared
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures (North America)
Buena Vista International (International)
Release date
  • March 3, 2000 (2000-03-03)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million
Box office$24.3 million[1]

Plot

Two best friends – Abbie, a heterosexual woman, and Robert, a gay man – decide to have a child together. Five years later, Abbie falls in love with a heterosexual man and wants to move away with him and Robert's son Sam, and a nasty custody battle ensues.

Cast

Production

The film began as an original screenplay titled The Red Curtain by Tom Ropelewski, which he intended to direct, with his wife Leslie Dixon to produce. It was announced to be made in 1995 with Richard Dreyfuss attached to star as Robert; he dropped out, then Helen Hunt was named as female lead to play Abbie. She was replaced by Madonna and then Rupert Everett signed on as star. Filming took place between April 23 and June 30, 1999. It later was claimed the script was rewritten extensively by Ryan Murphy and Rupert Everett.[2]

Reception

Critical response

The film received a 19% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 94 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Story elements clash and acting falls short."[3] On Metacritic, the film has rating of 25 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[4]

Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four, stating: "The Next Best Thing is a garage sale of gay issues, harnessed to a plot as exhausted as a junkman's horse."[5]

Box office

The film opened at number two at the North American box office, making USD$5,870,387, behind The Whole Nine Yards. The film grossed $14,990,582 in the U.S. and $24,362,772 worldwide on a $25 million budget.[1]

Accolades

The film was nominated as Outstanding Film at the 2001 GLAAD Media Awards.

Madonna won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress, and the film was nominated for other Razzies including:[6]

Soundtrack
The Next Best Thing (Music from the Motion Picture)
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
ReleasedFebruary 21, 2000
Recorded1997–1999
Length49:31
Label
Producer
Singles from The Next Best Thing (Music from the Motion Picture)
  1. "American Pie"
    Released: February 28, 2000

The soundtrack album was released by Maverick Records on February 21, 2000. It reached number 34 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart.[7] Madonna was executive producer on the soundtrack and hand-picked all the tracks that appeared. The album had two new songs from Madonna: "Time Stood Still" (an original track written and produced with William Orbit) and a cover of Don McLean's "American Pie". "Time Stood Still" reached the number 3 in Czech Republic,[8] and the latter track was a number one around the world, climbing to the top of the charts in the UK, Italy, Australia, Germany, and Japan. The album also included tracks by Moby, Beth Orton, Christina Aguilera, and Groove Armada.[9]

Track listing
  1. "Boom Boom Ba" – Métisse
  2. "Bongo Bong" – Manu Chao
  3. "Don't Make Me Love You ('Til I'm Ready)" – Christina Aguilera
  4. "American Pie" – Madonna
  5. "This Life" – Mandalay
  6. "If Everybody Looked the Same" – Groove Armada
  7. "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" – Moby
  8. "I'm Not in Love" – Olive
  9. "Stars All Seem to Weep" – Beth Orton
  10. "Time Stood Still" – Madonna
  11. "Swayambhu" – Solar Twins
  12. "Forever and Always" – Gabriel Yared

Charts
Chart (2000) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[10] 16
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] 19
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[12] 55
US Billboard 200[7] 34

See also

References
  1. The Next Best Thing at Box Office Mojo
  2. Nat Segaloff, Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors, Bear Manor Media 2013 p 258-260
  3. The Next Best Thing at Rotten Tomatoes
  4. The Next Best Thing at Metacritic
  5. Ebert, Roger (3 March 2000). "The Next Best Thing". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  6. "Twenty-First Annual RAZZIE Awards (for 2000)". Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  7. "The Next Best Thing (Awards)". AllMusic. All Media Network. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  8. "Hitparada RADIO 2001. 13 tyden" (in Czech). ČNS IFPI. Archived from the original on April 5, 2002. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  9. "> Discography > The Next Best Thing". Madonna.com. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  10. "Austriancharts.at – Soundtrack – The Next Best Thing" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  11. "Offiziellecharts.de – Soundtrack – The Next Best Thing" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  12. "Swisscharts.com – Soundtrack – The Next Best Thing". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
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