SECOND BEST is a modest, emotionally persuasive drama about a bachelor trying to adopt a 10-year-old boy. Carried by William Hurt's outstanding performance, the film is sentimental but never mawkish.
As the film opens, three-year-old James (Nathan Yapp) is kidnapped from an orphanage by his father, John (Keith Allen), an escaped prisoner. Before turning himself in, John extracts a promise from his son that he will always love him. Several years later, we meet Graham Holt (William Hurt), a
Welsh postmaster. Graham, a 42-year-old bachelor who still lives at home with his father, has just decided that he wants to adopt a child. He is screened by Debbie (Jane Horr...
Released:
1994
Rated:
PG-13
Length:
104 mins