Un couple presque parfait

The Next Best Thing casts Madonna as a free spirited soul (some stretch of casting there) who has a one night stand with an old friend and soul mate Rupert Everett. But that's not likely to happen too often as Everett is a gay man with whom she confides her innermost.

I think Everett's character must have been based on Roddy McDowall who was a confidante to many of the rich and glamorous and unlike that other gay man who did that as well, Truman Capote, McDowall never wrote any tell all memoirs.

It rarely happens in real life, but a blessed event came from that mating and Madonna and Everett decide to move in together, not marry, but raise the child as a mother and father with each leading their separate lives. It actually does work for a while.

Madonna really gets into the mother role and Everett's a great father figure. But he never forgets his social life with friends and lovers like Neil Patrick Harris and Mark Valley.

But then Madonna meets Benjamin Bratt who wants to get married and that puts an end to the arrangements.

The Next Best Thing while a sincere effort in its own way of showing the complicated problems that gays and lesbians have with the raising of children, their own children at that, it sadly degenerates into the kind of soap opera that one finds on the Lifetime Channel. It's not a horrible film, just will never be on anyone's ten best list.

Madonna plays a women let down by one man too many. In a night of drunken excess, she sleep with her best friend - who happens to be gay. She is pregnant as a result and they decide to set up home as a family, remaining best friends as they take on the joint responsibilities of parenthood. Things get complicated as Madonna's character falls in love with a new suitor. Probably the most PC movie of the year. If any of the subject matter interests you, and especially if you like Madonna, go and see it. If well-told stories about nice gay men and children leave you cold, forget it. This doesn't take the Mickey out of gay people, neither does it sacrifice by way of caricature or cheesiness. Instead it raises real social questions about rights and responsibilities towards children, and without preaching.

Seeing this movie is the next best thing to having your intestines removed with a teaspoon. I never was a big Madonna fan (Like a virgin, touched for the very first time...), but I never thought she could be THIS bad. I stopped caring about all these characters within 15 minutes into the movie, and the only people I sympathized with were myself and any other suckers who paid to see this movie. It's just plain stupid. It's not funny, it's not dramatic, it's not believable - people don't act like this! It's ludicrously bad and all copies should be BURNED.

Despite Madonna's lack of screen persona for most of the movie (she does have moments where she pulls it off), the film succeeds in probing questions about unconventional relationships and how they are viewed by society and the legal system. Even though I am a Madonna fan, I was distracted by her attempts to create her practically trademark pseudo-British accent without any consistency. She employs this accent many times, on and off screen, and I for one would like to see her give it a rest. Rupert succeeds convincingly, although Hollywood's portrayal of homosexuals as Judy Garland-loving, gorgeous Adonis-like creatures with impeccable taste and sharp wit, is getting old. Even though Rupert's scene as a flamboyant queen with large glasses and beret got a few laughs -- it only fed on existing gay stereotypes and took away from the fresh story that I thought I was in for. The later courtroom scenes were a little dramatic, and it is slightly unbelievable that in the six years that Abbey and Robert spent raising the child, they didn't think ahead and address the issue of custody with some binding legal documents, both for their own sake as well as the sake of the child. It was clear that both of them didn't want to keep living the single life. Even with its problems, The Next Best Thing is a decent film worth seeing.

i really liked this movie. being a yoga instructor i was impressed with madonna. being one of the biggest fans of her has nothing to do with it. i will be the 1st to say, as far as acting, well, lets just say she could be the weakest link. BUT, that only pertains to the earlier films. due to the fact that all & all the movies were bad scripts. shanghi what? next best is the right movie, the right direction,& a wonderful cast. rupert was great. benjermin bratt, aside from being beautiful, he did really well too. but it all comes down to madonna's cute dark humor that steals the show. 1-10 (9)