MOVIE REVIEW

Chasing Liberty  (2004)

Starring: Mandy Moore, Matthew Goode, Mark Harmon

Director: Andy Cadiff

Rating: PG-13

Studio: Warner Bros.

Release Date: 01.09.04

Review Posted: 01.09.04

Spoilers: Minor

By Sara M. Fetters

At "Liberty" to See Moore

Ah, January, the month when all the big studios dump their little ugly ducklings into the multiplexes, and we as little lemmings wander in and give them their due in hopes that they just might not be that bad. Unfortunately, usually they are (“Kangaroo Jack,” anyone), our optimism dashed by the extreme weight of utter mediocrity. Granted, there are exceptions, and every now and then a first-month movie actually surprises.

Case in point, the new Mandy Moore romance “Chasing Liberty.” The young pop star continues to show unexpected range as an actress, growing nicely into a promising leading lady. This time she plays 18-year old Anna Foster, a recent teenage graduate craving for a little independence away from Mom (Caroline Goodall, “The Princess Diaries”) and Pop (Mark Harmon, “Freaky Friday”). But when Dad just happens to be the President of the United States, a little personal freedom is a tad hard to come by what with Secret Service Agents following your every move, and Anna is just about fed up with having to deal with it all.

After her father breaks a promise to her during a presidential trip to Prague, Anna escapes into the city with the help of sexy Brit Ben Calder (newcomer Matthew Goode) with a plan to take on Europe. She wants to experience life in ways she’s never known, indulging in as many of the smells and tastes the foreign world can offer. From bungee jumping off a bridge to sleeping on rooftops to walking in the famed Berlin Love Parade, this is one little girl that wants to try it all.

Through all of this, the mysterious Calder – purportedly in Prague to take pictures of the local architecture – finds himself drawn along on Anna’s little adventure. Doing his best to keep an aloof detachment from the in-disguise First Daughter, Ben can’t help but become more and more enthralled with the young beauty the longer he sticks with her. But romance just isn’t possible. Not because Anna isn’t willing – a moonlight swim sans clothing in the Danube is proof enough of that – but more so the sexy photographer has a secret of his own, one that keeps him duty-bound to keep the vexingly provocative girl safe.

There is nothing new going on in “Chasing Liberty” that we haven’t seen countless times before in other romances. For the miniscule few in the audiences that don’t know where this picture is heading, please brush up on your Romantic Comedy 101 featuring Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts and then call me in the morning. For the majority out there, rest assured the final kiss that sets off the end credits is suitably endearing, I might even be pressed to admitting shedding a tear or two.

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a great, really even a very good, flick by any stretch of the imagination. Written by first timers Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman, “Chasing Liberty” has a sitcom banality to it that’s hard to ignore, the only thing really missing at times a cloyingly obtuse laugh track. Granted, that television feeling might have more to do with “My Wife and Kids” and “It’s All Relative” veteran Andy Cadiff’s (“Leave It To Beaver”) directing. The movie has no visual style or elegance whatsoever, moving with all the grace of whiny station wagon stuck in third gear.

Still, he does pull off a scene or two that’s really special. An opening shot in a crowded Washington, D.C. restaurant is handled rather well, the look on a young suitor’s face as the Secret Service storms in to cancel their date bordering on priceless. There is also a great exchange between Annabella Sciorra (“The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”) and Jeremy Piven (“Black Hawk Down”), both playing a pair of agents assigned to keep track of Anna, on morning-lit Prague bridge that surprisingly sweet and tender. I also liked the aforementioned bungee jump scene, the moment just bristling with just the right mixture of dangerous excitement and queasy unease, a perfect metaphor for growing up if ever I’ve seen one.

The movie’s ace in the hole, though, is Moore. A singing superstar at 15, I admit that this dynamic adolescent is really starting to grow on me. While I did not like either of her other two headlining features “A Walk to Remember” or last summer’s “How to Deal,” I still came away from both astonished by the girl’s readily apparent talent. Here, she really gets a role that shows her off. Anna is a beguiling nymph desperately trying to break the bonds of parental control and burst forth into adulthood, and I don’t know any young woman that can’t relate to that. It’s a singularly delightful performance, and even if the movie itself is no great shakes, the performer doing the jiving certainly is.

It helps she’s got palpable chemistry with the hunky Goode. A veteran of numerous BBC productions, including the “Inspector Lynley Mysteries,” it’s easy to see why so many in Hollywood are already naming him the next big thing. Usually, those sort of announcements are a dime a dozen in Tinseltown, but in this case I think they just might stick. Not only is the actor extremely good looking, he appears to have the acting chops to back it all up.

Really, it’s hard to really become upset with “Chasing Liberty.” Sure it’s obvious, the story’s potentially more interesting tangents all left somewhere off to the side in the unproduced good ideas handbook. Really, the only annoying flaw – and it is almost a fatal one – is its extreme over-length, the movie stretching a 90-minute concept into a near two-hour affair. By the time our heroine finally comes to her senses and realizes true love is just a supersonic flight away, I was kind of ready to leave.

If it weren’t for Moore’s ravishingly infatuating smile and Goode’s dazzling good looks, I probably would have. But then of course, I would have missed that kiss. You know the one I mean. The one where your heart just melts and a tear trickles down your cheek and seems right with the world? That’s a moment “Chasing Liberty” gets right, and in January, sometimes that’s more than enough.

Rating: êê1/2  (out of 4)

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