Then She Found Me

Then She Found Me marks the directorial debut of actress Helen Hunt, and while it’s not terribly difficult to discern where the story is going at any given point, the film generally comes off as a charming and downright delightful spin on the romantic comedy genre. Hunt plays April, an elementary school teacher who learns, in the same week that her husband leaves her and her mother dies, that her birth mother is actually a local talk show host (Bette Midler’s Bernice). There’s also a subplot revolving around April’s budding relationship with the father (Colin Firth’s Frank) of one of her students, a union that’s ultimately complicated by the revelation that she’s pregnant with her ex’s child. There’s little doubt that Hunt’s experiences as a sitcom actress have played a significant role in her directorial style, as Then She Found Me is rife with the sort of timing, both in the dialogue and scene transitions, that one generally associates with a half-hour comedy. This turns out to be an appropriate fit for the material, however, as the movie is often genuinely hilarious; it’s also worth noting that the expectedly dramatic third-act developments (including that darned fake break-up) are subsequently not as jarring as they could’ve been. The uniformly strong performances, with Hunt herself particularly good here, cement the film’s place as an above-average romcom, and it’s ultimately difficult to resist the various audience-pleasing attributes that have been hard-wired into Then She Found Me.

*** out of ****