Release Date: January 9, 2004Rated PG-13 for sexual content and brief nudity Directed by: Andy Cadiff Starring: Mandy Moore, Matthew Goode, Jeremy Piven, Anabella Sciorra, Mark Harmon, Caroline Goodall
Plot:
Tired of being followed around every moment of every day, the 18-year-old daughter (Moore) of the president (Harmon) of the United States ditches her Secret Service handlers (Piven, Sciorra) and sets out on a romantic road trip through Europe with her boyfriend (Goode).
Review:
Along with My Baby's Daddy, the newest Mandy Moore project is the first film to be released in 2004. Mandy Moore had made back to back romantic comedies. As with romantic comedies, Chasing Liberty is no different in following the same formula as other romantic comedies.
By following the same formula, I wouldn't directly say Chasing Liberty is simply awful, because it is not. This film is actually decent in places and actually made sense in what the couple was going through and their problems. However, the entire film wasn't like these few scenes, thus making Chasing Liberty, a disappointing romance film.
Mandy Moore delivers a decent performance. For being a singer, she also has the talent to act, I don't doubt her acting. Her past films include A Walk To Remember and How To Deal. Each of her films have interesting elements, but not enough to stand out as an enjoyable film. Its very easy to see the visible error that Chasing Liberty had.
The film lacked in places where it could have touched peoples hearts. It instead decides to lower its gratitude and even tends to tone the mood down at times. There is originality in this film, but they failed to use it wisely. Its simply a common problem and Chasing Liberty was risky and didn't prevail entirely.
Mommy said she will ground me if I kiss you.
The Direction of this film was also not too good to the eye. Director Andy Cadiff didn't give it the feel that Liberty could have had. It seemed as if the film didn't attempt to take its time to develop the characters. Instead, it quickly rolled on with the story and never took the time to setup the film entirely.
There are always expectations with romantic films, especially with the similar types of them being release these days. In order for it to work, it needs to capture the attention that the characters are truly in love and their problems are completely real. Chasing Liberty was believable in both places for a while, but then it just became ridiculous.
Speaking about believable, the music in the film wasn't inserted well to fill the audiences eyes with tears. In order to succeed with a romantic comedy, specific things as such need to be completed carefully.
Chasing Liberty took a different route than I thought and it didn't make an impact on myself and I'm sure on many others. It attempted to capture the emotional side of the audience, but didn't do so well in that area. Although this is not a bad movie, I wouldn't rush to go see this film.
Chasing Liberty
Rating:  |
