Anywhere But Here

This movie was a great one. Their relationship was a bit rocky, but in the end, Ann realized what greatness her mother really had. Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman were the right actresses for the job. :) They really portrayed a real "family". Not this fairy-tale "wish that was my family" kind of family. They were actually like today's families...with extreme relativity with the moving and mother-daughter struggles and diversity. I loved it...especially the ending when they realized how much both of them meant to each other. It made me wanna grab my mom!!! (who was sitting right beside me at the time...so i actually did...haha!)

Susan Sarandon has amply shown that she is capable of turning her hand to most kinds of rôles and is especially adept at teaming up with youngsters. This is no less so in this film with the prodigious Natalie Portman: the two keep the film interesting when almost everything else is a rather blasé prêt-a-porté production, mostly due to Wayne Wang's rather uninspired directing, as well as a music score that has very little to do with the proceedings and did nothing to fill in any stop-gaps. The film is saved precisely by the Sarandon-Portman tandem providing an energetic display of a mother, divorced, skidding along frenetically almost hysterically, and her adolescent daughter trying to keep her young head on her shoulders and pointing in the right direction. The result is an interesting clash of personalities, veering from the dramatic to the humorous in a style which is not far from being a `road-movie'. Indeed, frequently, reminiscences of `Thelma and Louis' come to mind as the film unfurls, though `Anywhere but Here' is several rungs lower down on the ladder. Even so, my vote is slightly higher than the IMDb average. Hopefully we shall be able to enjoy a true drama with these two ladies in the future, but with a more exiguous director – Stephen Daldry, perhaps?

Anywhere But here is a great movie.It has comedy and drama and stars two amazing actresses (Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman). I wasn't too sure about this movie when i saw it at the video store as i had never heard of it before, but i liked natalie portman's movies so i thought it should be worth seeing and I'm very happy i saw it.It's definitely worth seeing, i give it a 9/10.

Talk about neuroses, selfishness, and whining! This movie has it all! If you love listening to a crazy middle-aged woman babbling and bragging words of nonsense, and the diatribes of an angry and unhappy teenager, this movie is for you! the only thing that kept me going was Natalie Portman, who is a great actress. I kept hoping that the story would pick up, but it never did.

This is a tedious, overlong character study about the dysfunctional relationship between an irresponsible and self centered mother and her pouty teenage daughter. Adele August (Susan Sarandon) leaves her home in Wisconsin and drags her 14 year old daughter (Natalie Portman) to a new life in the bright lights of Los Angeles. The problem is it is the same old hopeless life in a brand new place. There is really no story here, just a series of situations for mother and daughter to bicker over so we can be convinced how intense a love-hate relationship they have with one another. The characters spent the entire movie trying to confuse us as to which of them was more immature. This is a classic example of how good acting cannot save a bad screenplay. Both Sarandon and Portman did an outstanding job of playing their characters. But each of them were playing characters that were so repellent that there was no where to turn for relief. Of the two, Portman evoked a sense of pity for poor Ann, who had to be stuck with such an obnoxious and putrid mother. Admittedly, I have to give Sarandon credit for doing such a fine job of making Adele so distasteful. I rated this film a 3/10, despite fine performances by both leads. I just don't feel it is entertaining to spend two hours watching two puerile characters snipe at one another. I would only recommend this movie to women who had bad relationships with their mothers (probably a large demographic now that I think of it) for the obvious identification factor. Perhaps this film will make them feel a little better that they are not alone in their frustration and anger. For all others, I would suggest pushing bamboo under your fingernails as an attractive alternative to this torturous film.

Ideal part for Susan Sarandon here. She is basically a free spirit. She has had 2 unsuccessful marriages. She flees with her unhappy daughter, Natalie Portman, to the L.A. scene. She secures a teaching job there, but with her problems and social hangups, teaching is not exactly for her and her resignation soon occurs. This is a film dealing with a mother-daughter relationship gone completely awry. There is family tragedy and the two women desperately struggle to cope with life, each one wanting independence. The telephone scene with her father is so memorable. That's what happens after years of separation and another family. The ending is an attempt for the two women to get the independence they have both sought.

Mother and daughter hit the road to get away from the past. But daughter has had enough of mother's immature behaviour even thou she means well. An emotionally fluffy film and there are plenty out there who like it that way. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them but it was because of the director that I sat through this one with my daughter - and Wang handles this with a sensitive touch. Only other saving grace is Saradon's performance, and Portman doesn't do so bad either.

Being a freshman in college, this movie reminded me of my relationship with my mom. Of course, my situation doesn't parrallel with Natalie Portman and Surandon's situation; but my mom and I have grown up with the typical mother and daughter fights. There is always the mother telling you what to do, or not being the kind of mother you want to be. I was balling my eyes at the end of this movie. Surandon's reaction of her daughter going to the East coast, miles away, after all they've been through reminded me of how I felt, being from a small city in the West coast, going to New York. The movie is meant for women who have children that are now all grown up. It is very touching, I was moved by the movie. Every feeling out of the characters in this movie was utterly real, you didn't get any phony sentimentality. I was sitting through the credits at the screening of this movie, alone, wishing my mother was sitting next to me so I could hug her and thank her for everything. This movie is a bit corny of course, but everything is trully momentous. Its all about what a mom can learn from her child; and what a child learns from her mother. 8/10

I enjoy a chick flick if it's going somewhere, but this movie started nowhere and ended up as it started. The Sarandon character was such a frustrating example of humanity, I had hardly any sympathy for her. The acting by Natalie Portman was the only thing that held any of my interest, and that was just overwhelmed by the oppressive mood of the work.

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.