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It took Helen Hunt 10 years to make her directorial debut with Then She Found Me, but boy was it worth the wait. A beautiful and moving film, it tells the story of April Epner a 39-year-old schoolteacher who longs to have have her own child, but time is running out. She’s also a bit of a wreck. Her recent marriage to the immature Ben (Matthew Broderick) has fallen apart, her adopted mother dies, and then she is approached by her birth mother, local TV talk show host Bernice Graves, played by an over-the-top yet warmhearted Bette Midler. Bernice tells a variety of stories (you never know which one to believe) of how she gave up April all those years ago. A natural-born performer, she tries to win April over but fails miserably. In the midst of all this craziness, April meet Frank (Colin Firth), the father of one of her students, and then on top of it all, finds out she is pregnant by Ben.

All the above insanity might seem chaotic, but in Hunt's extremely capable hands, we are able to see flawed characters making everyday decisions and the implications each choice has on everyone else. This is an all-around effort for Hunt who, along with directing and starring, co-wrote the screenplay and helped produce the film. The fact that it exists at all is a testament to Hunt's perseverance. Hunt has said of her characters: “They’re all a little bit awful, they’re all a little bit wonderful, and that makes perfect sense to me.” And it makes perfect sense to the story; all these characters felt real.

Hunt makes a bold statement by making April a normal looking (almost) 40-year-old woman. She's a teacher, she's tired, and, above all, she's been beaten down by life. Hunt lets us see that on her face, allowing herself to be exposed on screen in a very gutsy way. It's been a long time since I saw a close-up of an actress where she wasn't botoxed to death and I could actually discern the reactions on her face.

Along with Midler, the supporting class is stellar. My crush on Colin Firth, as the solid but bruised good guy, stands as strong as ever. Matthew Broderick has gotten older (haven't we all), but he still retains this childlike quality and is perfectly cast as the pathetic Ben, who runs back to his mommy after he escapes April.

Ten years is a long time to try and get a movie made, but sadly for women directors, it's more typical that you would expect. In fact, two other recent releases by female directors, Tamara Jenkins (The Savages) and Kimberly Peirce (Stop-Loss) both endured 10 long years to get their sophomore efforts into the theaters. Here's to hoping that it doesn't take Hunt another decade for her sophomore effort. It would be such a shame after this auspicious debut.

I used to looove reading the Sunday Arts & Leisure section. But the last couple of years the section has been boring me and most of the pieces have been skipable. To my surprise this past Sunday there were several very interesting pieces worthy of a read. However, I noticed that there was a common theme to the pieces that covered women in the section...It's hard to be a woman in the biz.

And then to make matters worse there's the "guy becomes a star" story on Jason Segel the co-writer and star of the new Judd Apatow produced comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall that is opening this coming weekend with one of the most misogynistic stealth ad campaigns I have ever seen (read: Marketing Judd Apatow's New Movie). Life for Jason is great and getting even better (he just bought a new house so close to the Chateau Marmont that he can get room service delivered), while Helen Hunt, an experienced actress who had directed episodes of Mad About You had to toil for ten years to get her script made for Then She Found Me which opens April 25. The two articles appeared on the same page and I just had to laugh when looking at the different trajectories of men and women working in the film business.

From a Young Actor With Nothing to Hide

advice from Judd Apatow: "As Mr. Segel recalled, “He said to me: ‘You’re kind of a weird dude. The only way you’re going to make it is if you start writing your own material.’ ”

AND

And despite his regular appearances on prime-time television, it is only in the prelude to the release of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” that he has found he can now take meetings with the studios, production companies and casting directors who previously shunned him.

In one such meeting, with Disney, he offhandedly mentioned that he would like to write a new movie for his childhood idols, the Muppets; within days the studio had signed Mr. Segel and Mr. Stoller to write the script.

A Young Actor With Nothing to Hide (NY Times)

Compare with these quotes from What She Wants To Do...

It was every version of no I’ve ever imagined. “No, we’re not going to make it because we can’t sell it.” “No, we’re not going to make it because it’s about a woman who is 40.”

I lived my whole life wanting to have a baby — and I got to have a baby. I suddenly
wasn’t offered parts that were worth walking away from the most compelling thing I’d ever been involved with, which was my family. It was nervous-making along the way to not be drowning in offers for big movies. But maybe running off and pretending to be this one’s girlfriend or that one’s wife isn’t what I want to do with my life. Maybe my dirty little secret is this is the life I’d been wanting.

What She Really Wants to Do Is ... (NY Times)

It's so nice to be a young guy in Hollywood and to know Judd Apatow. How about we all agree to skip Forgetting Sarah Marshall and go see Then She Found Me which opens on April 25.

Two other great stories were on Faith Prince's return to Broadway: Broadway’s Cookie, Un-Sugarcoated and A First Timer Makes Rhett and Scarlett Sing about how Margaret Martin went from being homeless with two kids to writing a musical. What a fantastic story. A woman with no theatrical experience getting the permission from the Margaret Mitchell estate to take a shot at the musical. Amazing.

Key quote about Faith Prince:

Only a few women at any one time have the name recognition, the vocal placement and the deep confidence in their own stage-worthiness to shoulder a Broadway musical. Because viable roles for even so small a number are rare, each member of the diva guild tends to develop a brand. In recent years there have been perhaps six: call them the sweetheart, the steamroller, the ditz, the doll, the thrush and the cookie — that last one Ms. Prince.

Broadway’s Cookie, Un-Sugarcoated (NY Times)

Key Quotes from the Margaret Martin piece:

When her marriage collapsed after the birth of her second child, Ms. Martin said, she was homeless with two children in Los Angeles for a year, sleeping on the floor of an office. “For me the feminization of poverty is not a theoretical construct,” she said.

“Most people stop themselves more than anything in the world stops them,” she said. “Imagination depends on the capacity to give yourself permission.”

A First-Timer Makes Rhett and Scarlett Sing (NY Times)