Abbie (Madonna) is a yoga teacher, she's single, beautiful and wants a baby/man (and when you think about it, it's actually the same thing ...).  Robert (Rupert Everett) is a landscape architect, gay, sorta single and wants a man too ... Neither of them try very hard though to find that perfect guy, so they settle for the next best thing ...

shortsynopsis

A movie unlike the usual faghag vs. screaming queen scenario (that's oh so blazé) - The Next Best Thing is about a mother, created from a little bit of a hidden agenda I believe, and a father gone sour after the new boyfriend (his 'n hers) hits the scene.   The resulting child is your ordinary, protected, 5 year old boy, and the movie (for all you in-the-closet-child-haters) is not Really about him.  It's about Abbie and Robert, how life and the new loves they find, force their best-friendship apart, and how Abbie's instincts as a mother, and Robert's inborn tantrums and spur-of-the-moment-deductions (he is after all gay) clash because of the love for Their child.

I'm only gonna give my perception of Abbie's portrayal in the movie - the other actors didn't really matter to me.  The movie takes off a little slow.  The first quarter of the movie in fact, doesn't make the movie, if you look at camera work that's a little up close, and the actors aren't quite "in the rhythm" of things here.   I, as an enormae (?!) Madonna fan, must admit that.  I don't think Oprah went ("And girl, can That woman act!") for Madonna's portrayal of Abbie, but you have to love her in this role - she was 'good' for it.  Madonna's an enchanted and gifted entertainer and singer who acts better than most of us do, so shurrup and stop criticizing her.  Hehe.  (Okay, maybe she just doesn't have all that much luck on her side when it comes to picking scripts, Evita's still her best.)

The filmography (as I've said before) isn't perfect.  The actors aren't to blame for that - but they do take hits, so eat this, John Schlesinger and Elliot Davis!   Where was all the light??  Why all those up close and personal shots?   Okay okay - there's bound to be some insane reasoning behind it - but it's not to the advantage of the plot, the movie as a whole and the acting. 

The end of the movie was lovely, (it made my roommate cry - he'll kill me for writing this I suppose ...).  It was the sort of end that was supposed to make me cry to - cause I love happy endings with a kink, BUT the story seemed unresolved - and you left the cinema with the thought that you'd in fact like some finality over who get's the kid.   In a vague way Abbie does - if you think about it rationally.  She shares custody with Robert.  Which is fabulous.  But, eish, something's still not there ...

(And I'm not much of a columinst or a professional critic, so don't criticize my criticism.)