Movie Reviews

Anywhere but Here

3 Feb 2000

Many women often dismiss action films for their appalling violence, and really don't understand what men see in the average Arnie or Stallone film. While they might have a point, I find the bitchiness between women in so-called "chick flicks" to be even more shocking than the average shoot-'em-up bloodbaths that usually conclude Stallone flicks. Honestly! Call it a boys' thing.

Nowadays, few actors can play bitchy as well as Susan Sarandon. She excelled herself in Stepmom, making life Hell for Julia Roberts. Therefore, I approached Anywhere But Here with care. Here is another Sarandon chick flick, this time about a stormy mother-daughter relationship.

Fortunately, while she has her moments in this film, she doesn't even approach some of her previous levels of cattiness. She does, however, manage to be so flagrantly annoying that, after a while, Stepmom doesn't seem so bad.

This is not Sarandon's fault. Her character, Adele August, is just as she was in Mona Simpson's 1986 novel: an overbearing, self-absorbed nuisance, whose failure to see reality makes life tough for Ann (Natalie Portman), her bright teenage daughter. Ann is moody and unsmiling for much of the film. This is not Portman's fault. With a mother like this, her misery makes perfect sense.

As the film starts, the duo drive to Beverly Hills to pursue Adele's dreams, despite Ann's protests and their financial woes. From the outset, you can predict that there will be much drama between them - the daughter who is growing up and the mother who never really did - before Adele eventually does the right thing for Ann, and their love for each other conquers all else. You know the deal.

If you like this kind of thing, it's all done nicely enough. Director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club) is a dab hand at women's films, and doesn't torture the male viewers by including a Suzanne Vega soundtrack.

The two leads are the only actors with much to do, and they do it very well. Portman, after her wooden performance in The Phantom Menace, suddenly stands out as a promising talent. Sadly, good as she is, the film itself is easy to forget.

Then again, maybe that's just a boys' opinion.