Hollywood romantic comedy has a Jewish sensibility

Helen Hunt and Colin Firth star in Then She Found Me.


 

In the film Then She Found Me, the phrase “damaged goods” refers not to a  pair of worn-out shoes but to a pair of broken lives.

In this romantic comedy, which opens in theatres in Toronto on April 25, Helen Hunt plays a Jewish elementary schoolteacher who must adapt to heart-wrenching change, and Colin Firth portrays a single father who has lost faith in himself.

Hunt’s 39-year-old character, April Epner, seems to be in a perpetual crisis mode. In a befuddled moment, Ben (Matthew Broderick), her husband, leaves April, saying he made a mistake marrying her in the first place. “I don’t want this life,” he whines.

Shortly after April’s adoptive mother dies, her birth mother, Bernice (Bette Midler), an assertive TV talk-show hostess, suddenly turns up.

At first, April doesn’t know what to make of this intrusive but generous stranger. Bernice claims that April’s father is the screen heart-throb Steve McQueen, but April is skeptical. To be charitable, Bernice stretches the truth.

Hopelessly adrift, April meets Frank (Firth), who could use some tender, loving care and whose self-confidence needs a little bolstering.

 April, whose biological clock is ticking, is all too willing to embrace Frank, a touchy Brit who has been left with the  arduous task of bringing up two young children.

But then, much to her confusion, April learns that she is pregnant with Ben’s baby. April is thus torn between going back to Ben and continuing to pursue Frank.

Adapted from a novel by Elinor Lipman and directed by Hunt in a self-assured directorial debut, Then She Found Me is basically about the fragility of relationships and the trials, tribulations and joys of love.

The movie, which is skin deep but engaging, is suffused with a Jewish sensibility, from the introductory klezmer musical notes to April’s reliance on Jewish prayer for solace. In several scenes, she recites the Sabbath candlelighting prayer, and not badly either.

The cast acquits itself honourably.

In a strong performance, Hunt is the personification of grit in the face of adversity. Midler, a cherubic presence, brings a light touch to delicate situations. Firth, depending on his mood, is remote and passionate. Broderick has little to do, aside from rejecting or pining for April, but he is convincing.

The British novelist Salman Rushdie (The Satanic Verses) has a cameo role as a brisk obstetrician, and he brings it off with aplomb.

Then She Found Me is standard Hollywood fare, mildly entertaining with just enough punch and panache to make it interesting for almost two hours.