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Anywhere But Here (1999)
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Reviews Counted: 80
Fresh: 51
Rotten:29
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Consensus: The clever reversal of roles between Portman and Sarandons' charectors (Portman is constantly worried and looking out for her mother, not visa-versa) makes the movie interesting and worth watching. Transcends the tired cliche well.
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis:
It is mid-summer 1995 as a 1978 Mercedes zooms down the highway, heading west. Inside sit 14-year-old Ann August (Natalie Portman) and her mother Adele (Susan Sarandon). Against her will, Ann is being moved to Beverly Hills where Adele,...
It is mid-summer 1995 as a 1978 Mercedes zooms down the highway, heading west. Inside sit 14-year-old Ann August (Natalie Portman) and her mother Adele (Susan Sarandon). Against her will, Ann is being moved to Beverly Hills where Adele, stifled by small-town life in Bay City, Wisconsin, hopes to make her colorful dreams come true. Ann is furious at having to leave the life she loves. Adele is tired of defending herself against her daughter's longings for home and family, and feels that she's taking Ann away from a lifeless future and offering her an exciting new world.
Their first stop in Los Angeles is the Beverly Hills Hotel, the symbol of Adele's quest; they then head off to a Travelodge motel and what will become their real life - meals at diners and a very ordinary one-bedroom apartment in the flats of Beverly Hills.
Over the next two years, Ann and Adele adjust to the reality of life in Los Angeles. Their relationship is close, but always volatile. Adele remains on the outside looking in, always wanting more. Ann is the realist, seeing things for what they are, sometimes more the mother than the daughter.
Together, mother and daughter are on a journey of discovery - of new possibilities, of their respective dreams and of each other.
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman, Eileen Ryan, Corbin Allred
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman, Eileen Ryan, Corbin Allred, Ray Baker, John Diehl, Shawn Hatosy, Bonnie Bedelia, Faran Tahir, Scott Burkholder, Thora Birch
Director: Wayne Wang
Director: Wayne Wang
Screenwriter: Alvin Sargent
Producer: Laurence Mark
Composer: Danny Elfman
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Reviews for Anywhere But Here
As a depiction of a loving-turbulent relationship between a single mom (Susan Sarandon) and her rebellious teenage daughter (Natalie Portman), Wang's meller is nicely crafted but old-fashioned like Hollywood's weepies of yesteryear.
Adele and Ann are not easy screen characters to like, but they are easy to believe in -- especially in the skins of Sarandon and Portman.
A subtle and unexpected pleasure, all nuanced performance and character detail.
The title might very well be an appropriate description of what more impatient filmgoers may be feeling after sitting through this frustratingly mediocre dramedy.
In its eagerness to give voice to the overshadowed daughter, the film never allows the mother to live.
The movie drops in on a crucial part of their lives, follows it for a few minutes and then jettisons to another episode. It's like watching 10 short stories.
Inspired pairing of Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman as an outrageous mother and her more practical daughter.
The movie doesn't feel authentic, it's relationships are drawn in erratic, TV movie-like strokes.
Wang keeps a precise balance, necessary to blend a high-octane performance from Sarandon with an understated one from Portman.
Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman put on an acting clinic that's a treat to watch, but, no matter how accomplished, a clinic is not a movie. They do a lot with a little, yet it's far from enough.
A heartfelt drama about a mother and daughter having trouble connecting.
Without a strong central narrative ... the film loses momentum and ends as one more tired treatise on family dysfunction.
You start wishing you were anywhere but here -- preferably at last year's far funnier Slums of Beverly Hills.
La cinta no deja de ser manipuladora y con cierta carga de moralidad. Pudo haber sido un producto mucho mejor terminado
Related Forums for Anywhere But Here
by: A Susan Sarandon Fan! 6/11/01
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- Anywhere But Here at Rotten Tomatoes
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