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The Official The Next Best Thing 15th Anniversary Thread!!!! :D


ryan

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A Certain Sacrifice

Vision Quest

Desperately Seeking Susan

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Dick Tracy

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W.E.

You missed the Secret Project = Revolution (2013). That must not have been quite as memorable. lol

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's Shit.

Madonna is hellbent on playing characters with a strong self image just like herself but that is the one thing that Schlesinger worked so hard against because he knew it would fatally undermine the final performance. Ferrara is the only director who has had the nervous energy and intelligence and whatever else it took to manhandle her instead of allowing it in the reverse. IMO. :)

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  • 1 month later...

Funny, emotional, dramatic, goofy, preachy and open-minded all wrapped in one, this movie is probably one of the best romantic "platonic" movies that I've ever seen. Okay, before I move on, let's answer the question that everyone reading this review wants to know...yes, Madonna is pretty good in the movie! Can I go on now? Thank you. I liked this movie mostly because it actually rung original despite already having seen a few similarly themed "gay/straight friends liking each other" movies over the past few years. I think that the leads might've had something to do with that, since Madonna and Rupert Everett really seemed to love one another platonically in the film, and it worked! Perhaps their true off-screen friendship benefited the duo. Of course, you don't really want them screwing in the movie, but their sincere charm as a couple, makes you want to see everything work out in the end. And boy, do things ever get sticky!

For a movie that does a good job of balancing the humor and drama for the first hour or so, prepare yourself for some tissue-time in the last half hour, when things get kinda rough. Of course, I don't like to admit that I cry at films (although I will admit to crying as I watched the horror that was HANGING UP (2/10) a few weeks ago), this movie strung a nice, emotional tale to which everyone should be able to relate. In fact, the film has more to do with friendship, love and the acceptance of people's differences, than it does homosexuality. Don't get me wrong, the film obviously uses this reality as its basis of narrative, but in the end, the film succeeds in offering us a funny, emotional look at an atypical, or typical if you will, American family, in all its glory! Madonna is actually pretty good in it, and totally believable as a yoga teacher (that was probably her idea :), as is Rupert Everett, who may want to begin branching out after another great gay, friend role, since I'm guessing that there is a ceiling for such roles. I will admit that I didn't truly buy into a couple of scenes that had Madonna crying, but overall, she certainly did a great job of having me appreciate her as this adorable, lonely girl just looking for the right guy (as opposed to the real "Madonna" that she is). And let's not forget Benjamin Bratt, who also looks great in this film (you go, Julia!) and delivers his scenes with charm. And even more importantly, what about the bodies on these guys, eh? I mean, is it just me, or were Rupert and Ben competing for the best six-packs here? Wow. I am Jack impressed.

All in all, a very good movie that does a decent job of balancing its humor, its drama, its love and its romance. Go in, enjoy it and if you're one to shed a tear or two every now and then, I suggest you bring some tissues. Now allow me to go put on some "Frank".

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:manson:

Seriously, how does anyone find this pile of junk interesting enough to write a whole THREE PARAGRAPHS justifying their love for it?

I say this as a fucking MOVIE CRITIC for Christ sake.

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The Next Best Thing ended up being John Schlesinger’s final movie. He was admitted to a hospital by year’s end of 1999, had a stroke in December 2000, and finally passed away in 2003. In a letter written from the hospital, he wrote “I do not for one moment think that [Madonna and producer Tom Rosenberg’s] behaviour has not added to the reasons I have ended up here.” In other words, Madonna’s movies finally killed somebody.

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I arrived in Seattle on December 12th (from Paris), switched on the TV that night and purely by chance, TNBT was on. Of course, I watched it (I hadn't seen it since some friends and I saw it at the cinema in 2000 - for the record, we all enjoyed it, which will be enough for some people to label us all idiots with no taste, I'm sure :p). It's entertaining. Definitely not a great movie, but it's decent enough.

Like many others here, I loved the soundtrack - it was packed with great songs (with AP and TSS being absolute standouts).

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Why do people dislike Madonna -The actress- so much to write this kind of nonsense? Last time I checked, Adam Sandler is still making movies and No one writes thise kind of hurtful words to him

Adam Sandler gets crushed by critics as much but at the height of his run he hit upon a formula of films that were made to make money, which means there are some people that can sit through movies like that which we know are terrible and enjoy them. TNBT also made a profit which goes to show that Madonna obviously sets the bar higher for herself than a slapstick star like Sandler who has aged out of his adolescent material along with the audience. :)

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