The Next Best Thing


The Next Best Thing is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed about two best friends that have a child together and a custody battle years after, and was the final film directed by John Schlesinger. Starring Madonna, Rupert Everett, and Benjamin Bratt, it opened to the number-two position in the North American box office despite its poor reviews.

Premise

Two best friendsa heterosexual woman, Abbie, and a gay man, Robert 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 little boy, Sam, and a nasty custody battle ensues.

Cast

The film began as an original screenplay, 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 eventually replaced by Madonna and then Rupert Everett signed on as star. Filming took place between 23 April and 30 June 1999. It was later claimed the script was extensively rewritten by Ryan Murphy and Rupert Everett.

Reception

gave the film one star, stating: "The Next Best Thing is a garage sale of gay issues, harnessed to a plot as exhausted as a junkman's horse."
The film received a 19% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Story elements clash and acting falls short." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average of critics' reviews, the film has rating of 25/100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

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 domestically and $24,362,772 worldwide on a $25 million budget.

Accolades

The film was nominated as Outstanding Film at the 2001 GLAAD Media Awards, but lost to Billy Elliot.
Madonna won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress, and the film was nominated for other Razzies including:
The soundtrack album was released by Maverick Records on February 21, 2000. It reached number 34 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart. Madonna was executive producer on the soundtrack and hand-picked all the tracks that appeared. The album boasted two new songs from Madonna, "Time Stood Still" and a cover of Don McLean's "American Pie". The latter track was a #1 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.
  1. "Boom Boom Ba" – Métisse
  2. "Bongo Bong" – Manu Chao
  3. "Don't Make Me Love You " – 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