The Next Best Thing
The Next Best Thing is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by John Schlesinger (his final feature film before his death in 2003) about two best friends who have a child together and a custody battle years after. Starring Madonna, Rupert Everett, and Benjamin Bratt, it opened to the number-two position in the North American box office and poor critical reviews.

Plot
Two best friends – Abbie, a heterosexual woman, and Robert, a gay man –  decide to have a child together. Five years later, Abbie falls in love with a heterosexual man and wants to move away with him and Robert's son Sam, and a nasty custody battle ensues.

Cast
Madonna as Abigail "Abbie" Reynolds
Rupert Everett as Robert Whittaker
Benjamin Bratt as Benjamin "Ben" Cooper
Michael Vartan as Kevin Lasater
Josef Sommer as Richard Whittaker
Lynn Redgrave as Helen Whittaker
Malcolm Stumpf as Samuel "Sam"
Neil Patrick Harris as David
Illeana Douglas as Elizabeth Ryder
Mark Valley as Cardiologist
Suzanne Krull as Annabel
Stacy Edwards as Finn
William Mesnik as Ashby
Linda Larkin as Kelly
Adam Marlow as Baby

Production
The film began as an original screenplay titled The Red Curtain by Tom Ropelewski, which he intended to direct, with his wife Leslie Dixon to produce. It was announced to be made in 1995 with Richard Dreyfuss attached to star as Robert; he dropped out, then Helen Hunt was named as female lead to play Abbie. She was replaced by Madonna and then Rupert Everett signed on as star. Filming took place between April 23 and June 30, 1999. It later was claimed the script was rewritten extensively by Ryan Murphy and Rupert Everett.

Reception
Critical response
The film received a 19% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 94 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Story elements clash and acting falls short." On Metacritic, the film has rating of 25 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four, stating: "The Next Best Thing is a garage sale of gay issues, harnessed to a plot as exhausted as a junkman's horse."

Box office
The film opened at number two at the North American box office, making USD$5,870,387, behind The Whole Nine Yards. The film grossed $14,990,582 in the U.S. and $24,362,772 worldwide on a $25 million budget.

Accolades
The film was nominated as Outstanding Film at the 2001 GLAAD Media Awards.
Madonna won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress, and the film was nominated for other Razzies including:
Worst Director – John Schlesinger
Worst Picture
Worst Screenplay – Thomas Ropelewski
Worst Screen Couple – Madonna and either Rupert Everett or Benjamin Bratt

Soundtrack
The soundtrack album was released by Maverick Records on February 21, 2000. It reached number 34 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart. Madonna was executive producer on the soundtrack and hand-picked all the tracks that appeared. The album had two new songs from Madonna: "Time Stood Still" (an original track written and produced with William Orbit) and a cover of Don McLean's "American Pie". "Time Stood Still" reached the number 3 in Czech Republic, and the latter track was a number one around the world, climbing to the top of the charts in the UK, Italy, Australia, Germany, and Japan. The album also included tracks by Moby, Beth Orton, Christina Aguilera, and Groove Armada.

Track listing
"Boom Boom Ba" – Métisse
"Bongo Bong" – Manu Chao
"Don't Make Me Love You ('Til I'm Ready)" – Christina Aguilera
"American Pie" – Madonna
"This Life" – Mandalay
"If Everybody Looked the Same" – Groove Armada
"Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" – Moby
"I'm Not in Love" – Olive
"Stars All Seem to Weep" – Beth Orton
"Time Stood Still" – Madonna
"Swayambhu" – Solar Twins
"Forever and Always" – Gabriel Yared

Charts
See also
List of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender-related films by storyline

References
External links
The Next Best Thing at IMDb
The Next Best Thing at AllMovie
The Next Best Thing at Rotten Tomatoes
The Next Best Thing at Metacritic 
The Next Best Thing at Box Office Mojo