It’s very rare to encounter a movie and television star who delivers as reliably as Bonnie Hunt. When she’s in control, she produces entertainment of a very high caliber, which, because of Ms. Hunt’s personal commitment to faith and family, can be recommended to families without hesitation.
A Normal Family?
Her current ABC sitcom, Life with Bonnie, and her 2000 feature directorial debut, Return to Me are models for “happy Catholics” to try and emulate in creating popular entertainment.
Bonnie Hunt is from a blue collar Catholic family in Chicago. One of seven children, Bonnie keeps close ties to the folks back home, and always creates comedy with family audiences in mind. After high school, Bonnie became a nurse and spent several years working in hospitals before transitioning into comedy writing.
Working with her writing partner, Don Lake, Bonnie Hunt also produces and stars in Life with Bonnie which airs on Friday nights on ABC. It is her third attempt at her own show. The previous two found critical acclaim, but couldn’t overcome the jitters of network headcounters. Thankfully, this time around ABC seems to be supporting her, and it really is her show. Bonnie fired the whole writing staff a few episodes into the season when they weren’t getting the tone she wanted. This sent eyebrows skyward throughout the television industry, but in Ms. Hunt’s mind, it was something that had to be done. She wants this show to be different from the formulaic situation comedy. She has something she wants to say in her productions. And what she has to say is delightful.
Life with Bonnie is set against the day in, day out of a female talk show host in Chicago. Married to family-practice doctor, and mother to their three children, this is one of the few shows on television which actually depicts a functional, divorce-free family, composed of a mother, father and children. The scenes at the Molloy home are endearing and true to life, and Dr. and Mrs. Molloy have a marriage that is devoted, vibrant and funny.
Comedy Without Innuendo?
The middle portion of each episode takes place at Bonnie’s place of work, where, with the help of her quirky production staff, she hosts “Morning Chicago.” In a radical departure from every other sit-com, much of the comedy on Life with Bonnie is improvised, often with the help of a different guest star each week but sometimes also with non-actors. Particularly the talk show segments can be side-splittingly funny, featuring Ms. Hunt and her crew at their stand-up comic best. Because of the improv, the humor feels very fresh and authentic to the moment, and amazingly, it works without crass sexual innuendo jokes. (Quick, somebody tell every other sit-com!)
Probably the most novel thing about Life with Bonnie in the panoply of TV comedies is that this is a sitcom where some things are actually sacred. There are moments, usually in the Molloy home, where the creators are not trying to make you laugh, nor are they trying to bring a tear to your eye, but they’re just showing a family. These unironic glimpses of family life make for a healthy jolt to those of us who have been weaned on loud laugh tracks intruding into sit-coms every other line. At the same time, Life with Bonni e avoids the treacly, self-righteous “important moment” we recoil from instinctively on sitcoms. Ms. Hunt is taking the sitcom in a new direction, and we should watch her while she’s at it.
Could This Really Be Hollywood?
On the feature side, Ms. Hunt’s directorial debut, the 2000 film Return to Me was also a delightful surprise to the few of us who actually caught it in the theaters. (Go rent it!) Starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver, Bonnie Hunt noted that she made the film as a testament to the simple, blue-collar people of faith among whom she grew up in suburban Chicago. The film is romantic, funny, beautifully produced, and completely supportive of a Christian worldview. It is the story of Bob Rueland (Duchovny), who loses his beloved wife in a car accident, and Grace Briggs (Driver), a woman in need of a heart transplant who receives the late Mrs. Rueland’s heart. When Grace and Bob meet, they are instantly attracted to each other, although neither has any idea of the relationship they already have.
Return to Me is a marvelous movie about a tender and innocent love affair between two people who’ve been dealt a harsh hand by life. It is an affectionate snapshot of life in the kind of meltingpot, ethnic Catholic community that many of our children may never see. Every Catholic family should go out and buy a copy of this movie, because it shows the kind of romance that Catholic parents can hold up to their children as a model for behavior. Minus the heart disease and deceased spouses, of course.
Bonnie Hunt is beloved in Hollywood. The loyalty she earns from people who work with her is legendary. Her genuine demeanor stands out in a town where fear and competition tend to define many relationships. Always working through the mainstream Hollywood systems, Bonnie has found powerful vehicles to express her tremendous talents while never betraying her own beliefs and values. It can be done.
Barbara Nicolosi teaches screenwriting to aspiring Catholic writers at the acclaimed Act One: Writing for Hollywood. You may email her at Actone2000@aol.com.
(Originally published in LIGUORIAN Magazine, One Liguori Drive, Liguori, MO, 63057.)
