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Starring Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman, Bonnie Bedalia, Eileen Ryan, Ray Baker, Shawn Hatosay,
Hart Bochner. Directed by Wayne Wang.
Adele August (Sarandon) lives in Bay City, Wisconsin, and wants out. She empties her pension and bank account to buy a used Mercedes, and heads off to Beverly Hills with her 14-year-old daughter Ann (Portman). Ann is not impressed about going. She leaves her cousin and closest friend (Hatosay), misses him terribly and is bitter about her mom taking her away from her friends and family. Adele grabs a teaching spot in a tough city school and the only place they can afford is a run-down apartment. But Adele gets some of her wish - the chance for Ann to attend Beverly Hills High with the beautiful people. She also pushes Ann into auditioning for acting roles, which Ann is not particularly interested in. Adele is not terribly responsible. She misses paying hydro and phone bills, causing these services to occasionally be turned off. Ann is the responsible one, continually asking her mom where the money will come from for expensive restaurant meals, and advising her mom not to quit her job and not to buy an expensive home. Adele can't wait until she meets a man worthy of her aspirations, and she eventually meets a younger doctor (Bochner) on the beach. She thinks he's the real thing, but Ann can see he's just there for fun way before Adele does. Ann can't wait until she's old enough to move out, and live her life on her own, but despite all her mom's crazy schemes for success and offbeat whims, Ann loves her mom and is loyal to her, even when she doesn't totally deserve it. Like many sitcoms, Anywhere But Here adopts the convention where the child is more mature and responsible than the adult. But it offers more than the usual two-dimensional sitcom. Adele continually yearns for more, to make her life more exciting, to keep alive her youthful outlook on life. Ann is a thoughtful, intelligent teenager driven to be a whiny, mopey kid because she can never figure out what whim her mom will follow next. It also offers many interesting touches, such as the cop who stops Sarandon and Portman twice, offering humour and advice. This is certainly a chick flick. There is far too much tear-jerking manipulation - the death of a beloved character, heartbreak in love, a sappy song characters sing to one another, characters starting to cry over just about anything. But the performances of Sarandon and Portman are the reason to see the film. Sarandon attacks the character with energy and abandon. She's fun to watch, and is clearly enjoying herself. Adele was supposed to be a pushy, almost abusive mother in the original book, but Sarandon makes her more sympathetic, suggesting her motives are not entirely selfish. Portman, the best thing in the disappointing Star Wars, convincingly gives Ann strength and warmth, and makes Ann's loyalty to her mother understandable, despite the crazy things Adele puts her through. A scene where Ann hides behind a post in the airport, and Adele thinks Ann has taken off on her is played extremely well by both. Sarandon makes us able to feel how much Adele needs and loves Ann, and Portman beautifully displays her discovery that her Mom really does need her, and comforts and reassures her as if she was the mother and Adele the scared child. If you like relationship-based films, Anywhere But Here is worth bringing your hankies to.  
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