Too many fans seem to be blown away

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

... so I can't really rate it. But I can say that the character J was pretty annoying. So she paints with blood and sits down on moving escalators and glares at the conformist sheep surrounding her in the mall. Was the "Comedy" part of this moving supposed to be laughing at her? If so, then yeah, it's pretty funny! Otherwise the movie is painfully dull, kind of like the knife J uses to cut herself.I will say that the friendship that arises between J and her boss is somewhat interesting. Nonetheless, I watched this movie on a Tivo and found myself wanting to fast forward not only through the commercials, but through the movie as well. I would recommend that only individuals with a very high tolerance for angsty, attention-seeking teenage characters watch this motion picture.

Son: "I failed algebra." Father: "That's okay... I failed your mother."If this is the kind of "cute" exchange that gets you all mushy-gushy, then dig in. After all, SOMEONE must have been created to enjoy this pathetic pap. This scene was also meant to be funny - but in a SWEET way. Please, someone... make space, I gotta rush to the loo... MFM is one of those "tear-jerker comedies", the worst sub-genre there is. Predictably, nothing here is funny, nothing is "cute", and the only tears that left my little head were the huge drops that formed themselves under my eyes as I repeatedly yawned, wondering if something of quality would EVER pass by the screen. In the end, as Sobieski sobbed for a record 48th time, I broke wind and that was pretty much the highest quality - of anything - that came anywhere near my TV set during that not-so-fateful viewing."My First Mister", with a title that is just as embarrassing to read as much of the dialog here is embarrassing/unbearable to listen to, is a desperate cross between Hollywood formula schmaltz, French generation-gap sex-romp male fantasy, plus a small amount of that supposedly "deep" indie movie genre with the unsuccessful touches of quirkiness-for-the-sake-of-it that usually go along with that sort of thing. MFM takes the worst elements of these anyway mostly bad genres, and serves you a product you can't real eat to. MFM is something to vomit to, hence if you wanna prepare a meal to accompany this film, you'd better count on that food leaving your body just as soon as you swallow it. MFM is NOT a quirky indie movie by any means. It is predictable, totally unoriginal sweetititity nonsense, full of overly melodramatic, sentimental plot-devices such as a TV-movie-of-the-week sudden fatal disease outbreak. Fat Al is dying, people, so let's all get those tissues! And guess what else: he is too noble too take advantage of a 17 year-old that comes on to him OUT OF THE BLUE. Yeah, I guess MFM was meant to target lonely middle-aged housewives who are trying to waste time between two Amanda Quick novels, but also middle-aged men who have just entered a midlife crisis hence are starting to have dreams about young and willing teenage girls... Brooks is also so very predictably brave about dying - aren't we all?? Those Tinseltown weepers and their perpetually brave dying characters... I'm touched. I would have given this movie four more stars if only Brooks had screamed "I don't wanna die!!!!" at the top of his lungs. A bit more realism hence unpredictability, please.One of the many annoying aspects is that for most of the movie all the side-characters are cardboard caricatures. McKean is wasted as a tight-a** suit-and-tie guy, Kane plays an overly ditsy and manic mother, Goodman is the dumb aging hippie, etc... None of them have any credibility, hence are neither funny nor real - or at the very least belong to a different kind of comedy than this, perhaps a screwball comedy. It is as though these absurd characters invaded the set of MFM by leaving the set of a very bad sitcom. (But that'd be like leaving one sinking ship for another.) The lesser, one-appearance-only, characters are even dumber: the woman that rents out apartments is swayed by the most ridiculous story Brooks cooks up (hence totally unfunny); Sobieski sells a suit to a store customer who also acts like an utter imbecile, and so on. This movie does justice to no-one in its cast except perhaps Brooks, who is anyway an overrated, unfunny slob. He belongs in this dull turd. At times I had a feeling as if Brooks was trying to walk in Robin Williams's footsteps, when he played all those terrible, totally pathetic pity-me-please-weep-for-me-please characters. Goodman, on the other hand, is wasted, making a fool of himself as Leelee's "free-spirit" father. Talk about moronic casting... Leelee plays a know-it-all (i.e. dumb) Gruftie (Goth chick) kid with suicidal tendencies. She is spoiled, she is confused, arrogant-yet-insecure, and we are supposed to like her. Worse yet, the makers of MFM are so out-of-touch with music fashions that Sobieski listens not to Type O Negative, Danzig, or the Smashing Pumpkins, but some ultra-commercial chewing-gum pop which she proudly presents to Brooks in of the movie's many cretinous scenes. In spite of its glaring flaws, the first 15-20 minutes were at least semi-watchable. However, as time passes it becomes quite apparent that the script has nowhere to go. It was obvious the two would not have sex, hence much of the middle is about dull, supposedly insightful conversations between the fat loser and the black-nail-polish brat. And then came the disease, the lost son, the dying/hospital scenes, the unavoidable death, the inevitable crush between Leelee and the son: there were gallons of tears dripping all over the furniture while soppy Hollywood violins doodled in the background... You get the picture.When I found out that the actress Christine Lahti directed this junk I wasn't really surprised: 1) "what I really wanna do is direct" is a disease that nearly every thespian catches nowadays, and 2) Lahti is one of those actresses that you've seen weep a 1000 times in about as many movies...

This is a fantastic idea for a film and one that doesn't conjure up any easy comparisons, perhaps Harold and Maude. Key to the execution of the writer's ambitious vision were the touching performances by Albert Brooks and Leelee Sobieski in the two main roles.The movie is focused more on the teen-aged girl's point of view as she tries to pull middle-aged Albert Brook's character into her world, which is an interesting way to go but not very believable. Albert Brooks shines in an understated way.The movie lets down a bit after the first 1:13 and should have been shorter. The movie has too many characters that remain undeveloped throughout the movie, features an unfortunate plot twist at the end involving a relative Albert Brooks' character didn't know existed, and offers strange elements that detract from the movie's realism (e.g., the "I see dead people" facet and "Caspar the friendly wife" quirk--the purpose of the latter being completely lost on me). I think two love interests were introduced merely to remove any lingering ideas the viewer may have about the nature of the characters' relationship, which we are assured is platonic. I thought the moral of accepting of other people as they are could have been underlined a bit more in place of the unnecessary plot turns.The film's worth watching for the story idea and for the performances of Brooks and Sobieski. I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater because I would've embarrassed myself.

Jennifer Benson (Leelee Sobieski) is a seventeen years old misfit punk teenager that uses piercing, tattoos, wears only black clothes and dyed hair, self-inflicts injures and has fixation for death. She misses a father and a normal mother, since Mrs. Benson (Carol Kane) has trouble in the communication with her, and feels absolutely rejected. While looking for a job, she meets the forty-nine years old Randall Harris (Albert Brooks), a lonely man who owns a shopping store, and he hires her. They are opposites but with loneliness and lack of friends in common. They become close friends, and their interaction changes their behavior for good while secrets and feelings are disclosed.This is the second work of the excellent underrated actress Christine Lahti as director that I see (the other one is the short "Lieberman in Love"), and also a surprisingly great movie. The original and the Brazilian titles are simply awful and vulgar, and do not mirror this sensitive story of loneliness and friendship. Leelee Sobieski has another great performance in the role of a disturbed and rebellious teenager, needy of love and care, who changes her behavior when she meets her soul-mate friend in a middle-age man. I am not fan of Albert Brooks, but he is great performing Randall Harris, the man who touches Jennifer in the heart. In the end, a toast to all special "F" words: to friends, family, fate, forgiveness and forever. Wonderful and touching! My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Meu Primeiro Homem" ("My First Man")