Anywhere but Here (1999)

I'm honest: Sarandon irritates me. So she's the perfect choice here to play a exasperating mother. What's funny is that her daughter is one of my favorite actress, Natalie. I'm always amazed how Natalie can express her feelings so well and since such young age. Here, she has a heavy part because she cries more than she laughs. In fact, a bit like in "BTF III", the roles are reversed because the daughter is serious, hard-working (so acts like a mother) while the mother is playful, careless (so acts like a teen).No matter how problems pile up, it's good to see that the red line is never crossed between them because they always share their eternal bond of love. They shout together but they never split. I guess that's what love is about. Another funny thing came nearly at the end of the movie because it's only there that I realized that their story was a bit mine too: indeed, I quit also my familial dead end in the country to come to a city of light. As Nathalie and Sarandon, I hear about my roots more than I am with them but unlike them, my departure was smooth.Finally, if the movie begins like "Mulholland drive" (same shots of palm trees and scene at a coffee), it's really about the relationships. Unfortunately, the rhythm drags a lot and of all thousand of cities in America, they had to choose LA!

The main attraction of Anywhere but Here is the superb performance of Natalie Portman. She gave her rather thankless character a lot of much-appreciated emotional depth. Susan Sarandon, a fine actress, is suitably sincere as the mother figure. I thought the chemistry between the two stars was believable, a chemistry that could have been developed more with a more involving script. I am not saying the script was bad in any way, I am just saying it seemed underdeveloped at times. I don't think it was the script writer's fault. The film did suffer from being overlong, and became sometimes unfocused in the longer scenes. The film does look beautiful, with some good direction and excellent performances. All in all, watchable certainly, but maybe more for an older audience. 7/10 Bethany Cox.

OK, maybe it's because I'm a guy and the only reason I saw this movie was because I went with my wife, but this was the most boring movie I've seen in a long, long time. I don't hate chick flicks as long as there's a good plot, but this one needs a lot of work to make it interesting. About 15 minutes into the movie all I could think about was how uncomfortable the theater seats were. The only redeeming value of this movie is that Natalie Portman is hot... but this alone doesn't make a 2 hour movie worth sitting through if it's lame & boring. Perhaps it's a good mother/daughter flick but if you're a guy you'll hate it.

This film is about a mother, Adele (Susan Sarandon)and a daughter , Ann (Natalie Portman)who move to Beverly Hills because Adele wants to feel "important" and she wants Ann to change her name to Heather and become an actress.Natalie Portman was excellent as usual! I loved the story!I was crying at the part where Benny dies. I own this movie and I love it. There wasn't a single thing I didn't like that is why I gave it a 10 out of 10. Susan Sarandon was also incredible! Sarandon and Portman are actually like a real mother and a real daughter.I think it would be hard to pretend that another actress was my mother/daughter.I love the scenes in the car especially the one where they are driving to relax and they go inside a house (and Adele lies the whole time!)So yeah!!