The film was a box-office bomb[2] and received overwhelmingly negative reviews from film critics. The accompanying soundtrack album was appreciated by music critics. Its lead single, "American Pie", topped the charts in various countries, including Everett's native United Kingdom, where Madonna extended her record as the female artist with most number-one songs in the country.
Plot
The film stars Madonna as Abbie Reynolds, a yoga instructor living in Los Angeles, and Rupert Everett as Robert, her gay best friend. After Abbie unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she decides to raise the child together with Robert, as they both share a deep bond of friendship.
As Abbie’s relationship with Ben deepens, Robert is left to grapple with his own feelings of loneliness, jealousy, and confusion. He has always been deeply fond of Abbie, but now, his affection for her begins to blur the lines between friendship and love. Struggling with his own unspoken desires, Robert finds himself increasingly sidelined as Abbie embraces her new romantic life with Ben. He begins to feel that his place in their little family is diminishing, and he fears that Abbie is drifting away from the idealized life they had built together.
This emotional turmoil leads to a series of conflicts, as Robert wrestles with the complicated nature of his feelings for Abbie and his own identity. He begins questioning whether he is simply a "second choice" in her life, and if the love he feels for her is ever going to be reciprocated in the way he hopes. Meanwhile, Abbie is torn between her responsibilities as a mother and her desire for a traditional family unit with Ben. She wants to maintain the close bond with Robert that has always existed but struggles with balancing the emerging family dynamics. In the end Ben and Abby marry and Abby shares joint custody of Sam with Robert and the 4 become a very strong big family.
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.[5]
On August 26, 2000, Billboard announced the film would debut on DVD and VHS from Paramount Home Entertainment, although spokespeople would not confirm it.[6] The release debuted at number 20 on Billboard's Top DVD Sales,[7] and peaked at number 11 on the Top Video Rentals chart.[8]The Philadelphia Inquirer gave 2 out of four stars.[9]
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 19% of 94 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.8/10.The website's consensus reads: "Story elements clash and acting falls short."[10]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 25 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[11]
Variety commented: "The Next Best Thing to a good movie is a well-intentioned one, and at the end of the day, that less-than-compelling consolation prize is about the best thing one can hand this resoundingly adequate Advanced Family Values comedy-drama".[3]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."[12]
Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote of the film: "In its early scenes The Next Best Thing shows promise as a sophisticated screwball comedy about romantic love, parenthood and sexual orientation in contemporary Los Angeles. But about halfway through, the story takes a disastrous turn and heads away from comedy into the land of suds and sorrow. Any psychological credibility the movie has built up is quickly dissipated, as it turns into a stumbling, poor man's Kramer vs. Kramer."[13]
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]
Worst Actress and Musician or Athlete Who Shouldn't Be Acting
Madonna
Won
CNN film critic, Paul Clinton, named The Next Best Thing one of the Top 10 worst movies of 2000.[18] In 2020, Screen Rant ranked Madonna's performance among her best movie roles.[19]
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