Actress Helen Hunt directed the new film Then She Found Me. She helped adapt the screenplay, as well, from the novel by Elinor Lipman.

And in addition to directing, co-writing and producing, Hunt stars in the movie — alongside Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick and Bette Midler.

In the film, schoolteacher April Epner (Hunt) finds herself floundering after splitting with her husband and suffering the death of her adoptive mother. That's when her bombastic biological mother — Midler, playing a brassy talk-show host — arrives to provide a surprising sort of maternal involvement.

Until now, Hunt has been best known for her acting. She won an Oscar for her role in As Good As It Gets, and co-starred in (and sometimes directed) the TV show Mad About You, which ran for seven seasons and won several Emmy awards.

The trade paper Variety calls Then She Found Me "an exceptionally deft and self-assured debut" for Hunt, "a smart, subtle and seriously funny dramedy" in which "the comedy always remains rooted in sharply and warmly observed reality."

Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.