Second Best

Second Best is a British-American drama about Graham Holt, a shy, unmarried postal officer in a small Welsh village who decides to adopt a child. Graham lives with his ailing father and is aware that he will soon be alone. Because he is a single man, the authorities will only consider him for children who are hard to place. He is matched with James, a withdrawn and self-destructive ten-year-old boy living in a home for troubled children, whose mother has died and whose father is in prison. The two begin a trial period together, and Graham, who has never raised a child, must learn quickly. The arrangement is complicated by James's attachment to his imprisoned father and by the possibility that his father may return.

Chris Menges directed from a screenplay by David Cook, with Sarah Radclyffe producing. The cast is led by William Hurt as Graham, alongside Nathan Yapp as James, Jane Horrocks, Prunella Scales, Keith Allen and Alan Cumming.

The film was released in September 1994 and runs 105 minutes. It is one of the later titles Menges directed after a career as a cinematographer turned filmmaker; the facts list this as his fifth directorial feature. On IMDb it holds a 6.8 rating from roughly 2,100 votes, and on TMDB a 6.8 from a small number of votes, indicating modest but steady approval. A critics' rating of 6.4 from five reviews places it close to the audience scores.