The Next Best Thing
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: March 3, 2000 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
25
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
7
Negative:
21
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
69
Mr. ShowbizF. X. Feeney
The two leads have a wonderful chemistry together. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Characters behave arbitrarily and incredibly, and a clumsy resolution brings the film to a thudding halt. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
All too obvious, all too easy, the sort of tongue-in-chic L.A. comedy that mistakes glibness for high style, heartfelt pop choruses for wisdom. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Essentially an old-fashioned weepie gussied up for Y2K.
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
If only someone had taken away that disastrous third act we'd have one of the better mainstream films dealing with the impossible societal demands put upon gay parenting yet made. No such luck, though. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Not even Rupert Everett is able to breathe life into soapy Thing. Read full review
50
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
Funny how Madonna borrows Everett, Julia Roberts' gay pal from "My Best Friend's Wedding," and Bratt, Roberts' real-life beau, to be her co-stars. If only she could borrow her talent. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Has good intentions and the element of surprise -- it's never quite clear where it's going at any given point. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklySteve Daly
(Madonna is) clearly full of good intentions; too bad she's lacking discernible emotions. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Cross an episode of "Friends" with an issue-of-the-week movie about gay parenthood and you have this glossy vanity project. Read full review
38
Baltimore SunAnn Hornaday
Of Madonna's considerable talents, making the camera love her isn't one: The screen seems to go dead every time she's on it. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Never having decided whether it wants to be comedy or a sentimental hand-wringer, it tries to be both and winds up being neither. Read full review
30
VarietyDennis Harvey
Likely lack of much critical enthusiasm or positive word-of-mouth will induce quick theatrical falloff, with better news likely down the line for rental merchants. Read full review
30
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Really two movies in one, and there's not enough breathing room for both of them. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A garage sale of gay issues, harnessed to a plot as exhausted as a junkman's horse. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The movie has a well-meaning message about love and loyalty being the bedrock of real family values, but its good intentions sag as the story trades its air of mischievous comedy for trite sentimentality, arbitrary plot twists, and enough maudlin melodramatics to sustain a tabloid TV series. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
A fluffy, feel-bad drama, with some serious things to say about the viability of homosexual men as fathers and role models. Read full review
25
New York PostJonathan Foreman
If the movie were funny, the implicit sermonizing would be more tolerable, but apart from four or five good one-liners, The Next Best Thing is a thudding failure as a comedy. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
That's a few too many agendas for one film. Read full review
25
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Contrived story lines and an altogether phony resolution erase whatever energy and wit the film displayed, leaving the viewer with an empty, disappointed feeling. Read full review
20
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The whole thing becomes a very rickety and contrived tearjerker. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A misguided romantic serio-comedy aimed at women and gay men that ends up caricaturing both. Read full review
20
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Screenwriter Ropelewski piles one silly plot contrivance upon another, and the characters start behaving like nitwits. Read full review
20
Film.comErnest Hardy
Doesn't even rise to the level of camp, of being so-bad-it's-good. It's just flat out bad. Read full review
20
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
No one ever turns into a real character, and none of the scenes have either dramatic or comedic resonance. Read full review
16
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
A resolutely awful film, it makes you want to swear off sex, comedy, Rupert Everett movies, flowers, yoga, children, roast beef -- many of the best things in life, in fact. Read full review
10
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Takes so many wrong turns it's barely an also-ran. It isn't the next best thing at all. Not even close. Read full review
10
Village VoiceDennis Lim
A vanity project -- hell-bent on playing barely human characters as themselves, they've created something quitebewilderingly ugly in the process. Read full review
10
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The moment the movie loses its lighthearted spirit is the moment it loses touch with reality Read full review
10
Dallas ObserverAndy Klein
Nobody involved will want to make this banal "comedy" a highlight of their résumé, not if they have any sense. Read full review
10
Film.comRobert Horton
A dismal film, a flop as both 21st-century romantic comedy and gay "Kramer vs. Kramer." Read full review
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