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Anywhere But Here
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman |
| MPAA Rated: |
PG-13 |
| Released By: |
20th Century
Fox |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Too young or a boy and they won't get it.
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| Date Movie: |
She'll probably make you take here anyway. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Some talk. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Nah. |
| Action: |
Nah. |
| Laughs: |
Chuckles. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
The ending. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
Here's a few -
Ann's cousin Benny: "Boobs are beautiful." Ann to Benny:
"You put the wood to Suzy Goodman!" A conversation with Ann
& Peter: Peter - "I wanna kiss your lips." Ann - "What for?"
Peter - "I don't know." |
| Directed By: |
Wayne Wang |
| Produced By: |
Laurence Mark |
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Anywhere But Here
A Movie Review |
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I planned on seeing three or four
movies this weekend - "Dogma,"
"The Messenger," "Anywhere
But Here," and
"Being John Malkovich." I really wanted to
see "Dogma," sort of wanted to see "The Messenger," was
looking forward to "Being John Malkovich," and figured I
would see "Anywhere But Here" just to add another review.
Then, low and behold Big Cooter sends me a review of "The
Messenger" so I didn't need to see that one, Stu Gotz tosses
me a "Dogma" review so so much for having to see that one,
and I was relegated to seeing "Anywhere But Here" or the
Malkovich movie. So, what's wrong with this picture - Single
guy, thirty something, by himself, going to see "Anywhere
But Here." I tried to justify it in my mind by saying Susan
Sarandon is still hot and Natalie Portman has a killer
smile, but I felt kind of weird on the latter because
Natalie played a mid-teen for most of the movie and liking
her killer smile just didn't seem right. Anyway, what about
"Anywhere But Here?"
I kinda figured I wouldn't have too much to relate to
this film, it being about a mom and daughter, and, well, I
was kind of right because there are usually only things a
mom and daughter can share, and this movie hit on most of
them. But there was a side that I think most people can
relate to and that's the interaction of a parent and a kid.
In "Anywhere But Here" you've got Susan Sarandon as Adele,
the mom who doesn't want to waste any more time in
Wisconsin, thinks her daughter, Ann (Natalie Portman) can be
a star, packs up leaving her second husband, daughter in
tow, and drives her Mercedes to Beverly Hills. They meet up
with a realty agent who sets them up in the crappy side of
Beverly Hills (that's all they can't afford), but still able
to go to the right schools. Ann hates it and continually
threatens to leave her mom, maybe find her real dad, and get
on with her life. Adele gets a job at a school, kinda
inner-city (a huge culture shock for her), and struggles to
pay the electric bill. So, for a couple of hours, we get to
see the mother/daughter relationship. Some happy times, some
"hate you" times, and just, well, a good story of how as
much as you may hate her, your mom is still mom and there is
that bond that can never be broken.
There's more to the story than that I guess, probably
more along the lines of how Adele is annoyingly optimistic
98% of the time and how Ann is trapped wanting to live her
own life but mom wants her to live the life mom planned out.
It's a story of growing up, letting go, and just kind of
figuring out about life.
Susan Sarandon is fantastically annoying in her role as
Adele. I couldn't stand her most of the time and almost
hoped for Ann's sake that Ann would run away. But, she did
have her moments as "mom" that you know she just wants the
best for her daughter, unfortunately forgetting to ask her
daughter what she may want. Then there's Natalie Portman as
Ann, dead-on as the teenage girl struggling to love her mom
as mom, and just trying to get through to her that sometimes
the parent has to realize their motives aren't what will
make their child happy. She gets embarrassed in front of her
friends (haven't we all), she makes fun of her mom (haven't
we all), and she just wishes her mom was dead sometimes
(haven't we all), but deep down she loves her.
Alright, from a "blow things up" guy's perspective,
you'll probably hate "Anywhere But Here." But, it is a
touching movie (how's that from the sensitive, new
millennium kind of guy), the acting is great, and I think
even as a dude you can relate to the underlying story of a
parent who has a dream for their child that, well, doesn't
match the child's dream. In the end it's 4 stars out of 5.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!!
L8R!!!! |
