Anywhere But Here (1999) User Reviews

Good movie takes you on journey of discovery for a mother and daughter...

[The Woof · 7/10 · 20 November 1999]

This film was a new direction for Natalie Portman. A much more adult role, though she comes to it from the traces of a child in the movie itself. Ann,(Portman) and Susan Sarandon, who plays her newly divorced mother, Adele, travel from a small town in the middle of nowhere to Beverly Hills. There these tortured souls try to come to terms with their new life and their new relationship as Portman's character grows up. Unknowingly at first to Adele, she grows up and becomes a better mother for it.

Ann sees her mother telling her she wants to be an actress, or so she thinks. Adele uses that crutch every time there are problems in their lives. We see their struggle as mother and daughter come to terms between themselves and with being alone, having left their old lives behind.

The acting is top notch from both of them. They seemingly become mother and daughter before your eyes. You can almost feel there is a bond there beyond the actual movie.

Though this movie really doesn't take us to any new ground in these types of films, the fact that the acting is well done, and the story isn't too flawed, let's me recommend it.

I will say however, it will probably go away soon, I don't believe it can have the staying power needed for a huge Christmas season of movies starting in a week or so. See it now before this happens if you like either of these actresses.

fine pairing; discreet directing

[khatcher-2 · 6/10 · 7 September 2003]

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?

Natalie Portman is the reason to see it

[steve.schonberger · 5/10 · 2 December 1999]

The good news about this movie is that the acting is outstanding. The bad news is that you have to sit through the story to see the acting. Note: There may be a few mild spoilers in this review.

The story in this movie was on the level of a typical television family drama. Aside from some moments of inspiration, it was mostly a series of scenes of a family -- in this case, a precocious teenage girl and her immature mother -- struggling through life. In this case, the struggling is all because the mother kept doing dumb things with her life.

The mother Adele (Sarandon) failed, again and again, to live a grown-up life. Rather than provide for her daughter Ann (Portman), she kept making bad choices that made life difficult for both of them. And rather than emotionally supporting Ann, she chased her own fantasy life, and tried to get Ann to live a fantasy life too.

First, Adele ran out on a decent, responsible, gainfully-employed husband because he wasn't glamorous enough. Then she bought a car she couldn't afford, ate restaurant meals she couldn't afford, and failed to pay utility bills. She bounced between apartments, skipping out on the leases of some because they were dumps, and on others because she got behind on the rent. She quit a decent teaching job during a strike -- not because the strike pay was too little, but because she didn't want to bother walking the picket line. She ran stop signs and parked illegally, and didn't pay the tickets. She pursued dead-end romances, and ignored promising ones.

Adele was just as lost when it came to taking care of Ann's emotional needs. Rather than helping Ann through problems by talking, she took her out for ice cream. When Ann's friends were over to study, Adele made an embarrassing scene, driving the friends away. She fantasized about Ann becoming an actress, and pressured her into auditions even though Ann wasn't interested. She tried to defeat Ann's ambitions of going away to college, because she didn't want to face Ann's eventual departure. Sure, she loved her daughter, but mostly in a clingy, unsupportive way.

The one good thing I could say about Adele: At least she wasn't an alcoholic or a drug addict. Her sensible behavior at the end of the movie was too out-of-character to count in her favor.

Although kids like Ann occasionally thrive in spite of such an unstable, unsupportive environment, her ability to do so made her a somewhat unlikely character. The best way I can explain it is teenage rebellion: Where ordinary kids might rebel by taking risks and behaving irresponsibly, Ann rebelled against Adele's irresponsibility by throwing herself into her school work and her after-school job, wishing for a "normal" life. Adele gave her almost every possible reason to fail, and Ann rejected them all.

Enough about the story. The good news about this movie was wonderful acting.

Natalie Portman's performance is so good the only way she can miss an Oscar is if Academy voters count the movie's script against her. She made Ann real. I could feel her determination to overcome each problem her mother caused. I could see her anger when her mother tried to smooth over each indignity with an ice cream bribe. I felt her hope when she applied for admission to a university, and her despair when that hope failed.

The highlight of the entire movie (including the story) was when Ann finally gave in to Adele's fantasy of Ann as an actress, and went to an audition. She was so good that the casting people should have hired her on the spot, promising to pay off Adele's bad debts, pay her way through the university of her dreams, even if it was just a bit part.

Portman has been wonderful in all three of the movies where I've seen her. She's now three for three in movies I've seen. She was the most memorable actress in Beautiful Girls, where she turned a smallish supporting role into one of the highlights of the movie. Then she was the queen in the latest Star Wars movie, where she was the only one who really managed to make the corny dialogue sound real. Here she has the starring role, and shows she can maintain her great talent through an entire feature.

Susan Sarandon acted very well too, but the script didn't give her a great deal of opportunity to show off her talent. She didn't manage to make Adele likable in any way, although maybe no one could have accomplished that. (Or maybe we weren't supposed to like her.) Sarandon did the important job, which was to carry Portman from one wonderfully acted scene to another.

The supporting roles were well-acted too, particularly the dam photographer.

This movie wastes outstanding acting on a mediocre story.

Excellent performance by two stellar actresses

[Ace-38 · 12 November 1999]

"Anywhere But Here" is the story of a mother who is a bit flighty and adventurous, and her daughter who is more down to earth and practical.

First off, I'd like to say that Natalie Portman gets better and better every movie I see her in. She is an enormous talent, and continues to get better as the years go on. She really held her own and managed to shine brightly, even against a talent as large as Susan Sarandon.

Ms. Sarandon is still no slouch either. She portrays Adelle August, a mother who desires more for her daughter than small town life in Wisconsin. She suddenly packs up one day and leaves it all behind, dragging her unwilling daughter (Ann) with her to Beverly Hills. She plays this role with a pure passion, making you believe that she is indeed, in spite of all her flaws and errors in judgement (the electric is repeatedly turned off due to forgotten bills) that she really is trying the best she can for her daughter.

Natalie Portman, as I stated earlier, is phenomenal. Her character of Ann is believable, even though we first meet her at 14 (Ms. Portman is 17) She plays the uprooted, resentful, but loving and loyal child to the fullest extent, without ever feeling forced.

While there is a good supporting cast, they are overshadowed by the presence of Susan and Natalie, and while they are all good, well crafted characters, the focus is clearly on the two stars. Notice a role put in by Ashley Johnson, as Ann's friend in California. Those of you who remember the show "Growing Pains" will remember her as the youngest Seaver child before that show was (mercifully) cancelled.

If I have to have one complaint about this movie, it's that it was a bit too long. At 113 minutes, it tends to drag a bit and has a couple scenes that are either overlong or could have been edited out. But those really are few and far between.

"Anywhere But Here" is a very strong, believable look at mothers and daughters, as well as the complexity of all family relationships. It is a skillful and subtile tearjerker (as evidenced by my friend and an entire theater full of teen girls and adult women crying during two pivital scenes). It avoids the trap of coming off heavy handed. To loosly quote the old saying, you will laugh, you will cry. Often in the same scene.

4 out of 5

Great lead performances lift an otherwise unremarkable story

[bh_tafe3 · 7/10 · 19 July 2015]

Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon play off each other beautifully in this easy going mother/ daughter drama that pulls a switcheroo on the traditional roles.

Sarandon stars as Adele, a fairly wild, out of control dreamer, who decides to leave Bay City, Wisconsin with her daughter Anne, a grounded realist, in order to try and get a teaching job in Beverly Hills.

If one was to summarize the script to this film in one word, it would be under developed. I mean, it's all there, a mother-daughter relationship with a role reversal, a love interest for both, a struggle between the two with a resolution, but this film just seems to happen and then end.

You'll find yourself wondering what any of the side characters are doing in this story apart from making up numbers. The big strength is the performances from Sarandon and Portman and the way they relate to each other. The two play off each other beautifully, with Sarandon giving a fearless performance as an irresponsible, out of control, immature mother that allows Portman to make the most of her role as a responsible, careful young woman growing up and maturing with considerable dignity. This film earned Portman her first Golden Globe nomination, and is an interesting watch for any of her fans. The highlight in the film of the two together is the scene where Portman has to comfort her mother after a painful break-up with the realization written all over her face that this is an absurd reversal of the natural order.

Most of the supporting cast are wasted, with Hart Bochner a particularly grievous waste. So big is Sarandon's performance and so arresting is Portman these characters would have dissolved into the background anyway, but it is frustrating that the script doesn't put the time into developing the side characters. While the film explores sex, death and small town boredom, we don't really know any of the characters these issues are effecting.

Anywhere but Here is worth watching for the excellent performances from the leads, and its easy going tone. Probably not one to go out of your way to track down, but certainly worth watching on cable.

Overlong but very well-played film.

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 15 May 2009]

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.

Anywhere But Here (Natalie Portman & Susan Sarandon)

[tbills2 · 7/10 · 1 July 2013]

Anywhere But Here is so good, solely propelled with powered performances by A-listers Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman. I really like this movie, it's really nice. Susan and Natalie are 2 of film's all-time greatest actresses, especially Portman who's like top 5 pure actress, easily top 10 of all-time. Sarandon is nearly as strong. But more so than their talented acting skills these 2 together possess even brighter starpowers. It's very gratifying seeing Sarandon with Portman coupling for one of the better dual-performance driven movies. Susan Sarandon is in her 50s, and from head to toe she looks hotter than ever, I mean that. Natalie's pretty too, ughhhhh. Anywhere But Here is a smart, well-made coming to age story filled with touchy, affectionate drama. Mother and daughter Adele and Ann August are the primary focus for the duration of this pleasant and authentic feeling film. The mother Adele is overambitious and overbearing, and too lost in her own world. The daughter Ann is astute and searching for affection from Adele but feeling rejection from her mother. Ann and Adele are experiencing varying outlooks towards life. I love this movie. I love both actresses. This is a 7, but one of the best 7s. It has the makeup and presence of an 8, but barely blunders without having enough eventful occurrences, no impacting unfolding story lines. It's really a homely movie. Anywhere But Here is really good, I love it, did I say that already?

Two great actresses but story doesn't move

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 8 May 2015]

Adele August (Susan Sarandon) is the flighty mother to exasperated 14 year old Ann (Natalie Portman). Ann actually like her stepfather Ted but Adele leaves her boring husband in Wisconsin for the bright sunshine of Beverly Hills. Adele gets a job at a rundown school and spends their money frivolously. Ann can't wait to leave her mother. There's also a cop who has two pivotal scenes where he comes in with just the right advice.

Sarandon is playing a manic mother character. Portman is lovely and a frustrated teenager. These are good building blocks for some family drama. However the movie doesn't really build anything compelling with these amazing pieces. The plot, it there is one, is a random series of aimless snippets. Their story goes nowhere for a long stretches of this movie. It's the same situation over and over again. Nevertheless, there are those two beautiful building blocks at the end of the day. It probably needs a third and some dramatic construction.

Irritating and repetitive

[frodofan00 · 3/10 · 7 February 2003]

*Minor SPOILERS*

I felt like everything kept repeating itself in different locations. It got a little boring. Natalie Portman kept the same facial expressions throughout the film, and really lacked the emotion needed.

The characters were a bit too distant as well. I know everything revolved around Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman, but the other people just kept popping in and out of the story. Especially the "almost too nice" guy. He looked as if he would have a relevant part in the plot, but he just said he'd love to take Natalie Portman out to see some fish spawning thing, and we eventually find out later that he invited Susan Sarandon to Vegas. That was it. He wasn't mentioned at all in the rest of the film.

I think that just with those two things, the fact that the acting was just okay (even Sarandon - who is usually phenomenal), and the feel-good ending made into a mediocre movie that isn't really worth much higher than a 3. (In my opinion at least, whatever that's worth.)

;o)

One of my favourites

[juneebuggy · 7/10 · 11 October 2014]

I've seen this a couple times over the years now and I always really enjoy it even if it is a bit on the melodramatic side. Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman are fantastic and I think that's what makes it so watchable as nothing much (really) happens plot wise, its just more of a character study.

Susan Sarandon is 'Adel,' a flighty, dreamer of a woman who leaves her small town behind and moves to Beverly Hills with her teenage daughter in the hopes of... more. 'Ann'(Natalie Portman) resents both her mother and the move and they spend most of the 4 year time span covered in the movie arguing and in a role reversal as Ann is the responsible one in the mother/daughter relationship. 04.27.14

Phony star-driven vehicle...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 28 July 2007]

Talented screenwriter Alvin Sargent sadly cannot get any engaging ideas cooking in this artificial trifle about a wayward mother and her mature teenage daughter trying to make their lives work in Los Angeles despite mom's flighty behavior. Apart from several good sequences, I didn't quite buy Susan Sarandon as a flake (she's too intrinsically smart and focused to be passed off as this devil-may-care lady), and her naturally grounded personality is a bad fit for the role of an irresponsible parent. Natalie Portman fares much better as her kid, and yet there's a creepy aloofness to her work (and some of her scenes, such as the one where she asks a boy to strip, are misguided and uncomfortable to watch). Certainly not an incompetent piece, "Anywhere But Here" does have moments that work, but it isn't an embraceable film, nor has it proved to be an important one. ** from ****

A difficult, but great, film.

[paulcreeden · 9/10 · 31 December 2000]

Wayne Wang's direction may be the ingredient which made this film much more impressive to me than "Slums of Beverly Hills", which covers remarkably similar ground. The interplay between Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman is riveting. Real chemistry there. This film succeeded in bringing me inside the dysfunctional life of these two women without dragging me down into depressed frustration. Susan Sarandon's character hammers at all the nerves which a narcissistic parent is capable of touching in an insecure adolescent. She amazingly manages to do this without coming across as floridly insane or intentionally sadistic. And, Natalie Portman deflects each attack on her character's ego with the resigned grace of an intelligent codependent child, untainted by the smug cynicism of the Natasha Lyonne character in "Slums of Beverly Hills". Portman's character is an adolescent with dignity under stress, an unusual creature in modern films. The film reaches a very satisfying resolution without trying too hard. I highly recommend this film to the viewer who wants to be challenged and entertained.

Amazing Ms Sarandon

[sq8188-162-458059 · 7/10 · 7 December 2012]

If it wasn't apparent before it should be clear now: Susan Sarandon as an actress is Meryl Streep's equal. She is a commanding actress in an inimitable way. Through the medium of the movies, audience get to part take in what makes Meryl Streep, what empowers Tom Hanks, what captivates a Susan Sarandon. For the older generation, that would be a Jimmy Stewart, a Burt Lancaster, a Katherine Hepburn. This sets apart legends from merely good actors. As good as she is, whether Natalie Portman would reach this plateau is anyone's guess. But for now lets just celebrate the lady who is already there - the inimitable Susan Sarandon !

Soppy Melodrama with Schlocky Music

[pc95 · 4/10 · 10 July 2010]

For a library check-out, "Anywhere But Here" is about par. It might be worth a viewing to kill time if it's bad weather outside - might be. The acting and directing in it is not particularly remarkable, nor is the story which seems more like writing and scenes splashed together. I fell asleep during the first watch which during a well-made movie, I never do. Upon re-watch to catch the parts I missed, I didn't think the movie was horrible, just soppy, syrupy melodrama. I didn't really care for any of the characters or their predicaments, and don't particularly enjoy watching mother/daughter Portman/Sarandon's arguments and make-ups repeating over and over. I thought the whole family background and in-fighting was terribly overcooked and was thrown together. The music was schlock. On second thought, give this a pass if you're trying to decide to watch.

Glad to be HERE

[Kindo · 11 November 1999]

Anywhere But Here

The mother-daughter genre of film is one that is usually laced with caustic wit (POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE) or draining melodrama (TERMS OF ENDEARMENT). ANYWHERE BUT HERE is the latest entry into this undernourished genre. Falling somewhere in between the two examples above, ANYWHERE is a passable, but strangely distant film. One that for every unsuitable move it makes, it has Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon to make the wrongs seem so very right.

Abruptly leaving her husband and family behind in Wisconsin, Adele August (Sarandon) takes her teenage daughter Ann (Portman) across the country to live the good and free life in Los Angeles. Having freshly minted a tumultuous relationship with this sudden move, the two find themselves in the strange position of having to rely on themselves and each other in the big bad city. Adele is flighty, irresponsible, and refuses to settle into her role as the parent. Ann is lonesome, homesick, and not sure about the love she has within for her mother. Over the years we watch as struggle after struggle continually opposes the family, with each battle reinforcing the love the two share. Told from Ann's perspective, ANYWHERE is essentially a film about trying to understand the people related to us. The bonds we share with our parents, and how those bonds always seem to work against us.

Based on a novel by Mona Simpson and a screenplay by crisis legend Alvin Sargent (ORDINARY PEOPLE), ANYWHERE is the kind of tragic-comic filmmaking that I usually crave. Unfortunately, ANYWHERE is far from touching. Directed by Wayne Wang, the film isn't nearly as resonate as Wang's earlier multigenerational epic THE JOY LUCK CLUB. Watching Adele and Ann struggle with their growing relationship is more tiring than emotionally satisfying. The flow of the drama fluctuates so much, by the end you're just glad the filmmakers didn't throw in one last argument for good measure. At 120 minutes, ANYWHERE is about six crisis over the limit.

It's the acting in ANYWHERE that takes the film to another level. We all know Susan Sarandon can spin gold with her acting, yet each new film she's been involved with recently (save the September vanity project ILLUMINATA) has shown more and more how commanding an actress she truly is. In ANYWHERE, only Sarandon could give Adele the most annoying characteristics yet ground the performance in love and warmth. Adele really does care for her daughter, she just desperately wants to maintain her own identity for once in her life. Bursting out onto the screen like some kind of Southern California Pokemon, her performance is grand and inviting.

But where does that leave Natalie Portman? After shimmying up into films with should-be-legend performances in THE PROFESSIONAL and the locally shot BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, Portman is like no other teenage actress working today. It's a testament to her sensibilities that we haven't seen her in the latest SCREAM variation or this next wave of AMERICAN PIE type comedies. Portman carries ANYWHERE with grace and dignity. Director Wang should be given the Oscar alone for his choice to just linger on Portman's face for extended times. As expressive as her acting can be, Portman can live a million lives in one glance. With Sarandon, the two create a complex and agreeable mother-daughter relationship for their characters. They share overwhelming chemistry and I hope this won't be the last time the two decide to work together.

Shot with a sparkling color palette by Roger Deakins, Wang captures both the frail beauty of Los Angeles and it's hard realities. I also give Wang credit for properly using dim-bulb actor Shawn Hatosy(OUTSIDE PROVIDENCE). In a small role as Ann's beloved cousin, Hatosy finally shows some talent and charisma. Unfortunately, the film is scored on autopilot by the self-looting Danny Elfman and features the second most aggressive soundtrack push of the year. The songs rarely fit in with the drama and scream "Buy me on sale at Sam Goody!" too blatantly.

Just like the characters in the film, it's hard to hate ANYWHERE BUT HERE as much as it is hard to love. Had Wang left open the emotion door a little more the film might have made a lasting impact. Too many scenes do not pay off the way they should and not enough texture is given to the characters. I would recommend ANYWHERE BUT HERE, only for the opportunity to bask in the glow of two actresses on the top of their game. -----7/10

Anywhere But Here...Daughter Knows Best ***

[edwagreen · 7/10 · 27 January 2011]

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.

Not two thumbs up

[Briagh · 6/10 · 20 November 1999]

I was hoping for some kind of wisdom here. Unfortunately, it is a story of a wacko woman who's conversion to wisdom and maturity in the last five minutes of the film is unbelievable. Natalie Portman is very very good. I wonder why Susan Sarandon would want her role so badly. The idea that her character really, deep down, is doing it all for her baby is fine in theory, but the script just doesn't make that at all believable. The fairy tale ending is just that - make believe.

Anyone but Sarandon (dvd)

[leplatypus · 7/10 · 28 October 2011]

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!

Great performances make a flawed film enjoyable

[Hootie-2 · 6/10 · 20 October 1999]

The best part about the film is the chemistry between Sarandon and Portman, and the exceptional performances they both give. The film seems episodic and uneventful, the moments that have been left in seem to be unimportant. But the performances make the film completely watchable, and the film cements Portman's status as an actress of very high regard.

Lackluster.

[dclark1963 · 5/10 · 9 February 2001]

There's not much impact here. Portman was very good; Sarandon, as usual, energetic.

Unless a film impacts me on one of several levels (psychological, emotional or 'brain food'), I wouldn't recommend this movie to a friend. It was one way to pass an evening. Did I get a benefit from this film? No. Did it impact me? No. Did I learn anything? No. Was it another teenage vs single mother conflict? Yes.

There are a dozen other movies more worth the time. Although I really like Susan Sarandon, she (and her character) filled no void and did nothing to surprise me. Portman evoked memories of my teenage rebel feelings but not deeply enough. Sorry, girls.

Immaturing with Age

[JamesHitchcock · 7/10 · 26 December 2021]

Middle-aged Adele August leaves her husband and her small Wisconsin town and moves to Beverly Hills. The title "Anywhere But Here" sums up Adele's view of Wisconsin, and of small-town Wisconsin in particular; she would prefer to live almost anywhere than carry on living in a place she regards as stultifyingly dull and conformist. Moreover, she does not move to Beverly Hills alone. She forces her reluctant teenage daughter Ann to accompany her.

The film was made in 1999, meaning that Adele is of that generation which grew up in the sixties and regarded California as the Last Frontier to which they could head and live their own version of the American Dream. The trouble is, she starts living it thirty years too late. She has no real idea what she intends to do in Beverly Hills; just being there seems to be enough. When she gets there she drifts from one job to another, and has an unsatisfactory love affair. Her main ambition is centred upon Ann, whom she hopes will become a Hollywood actress. Adele is played by Susan Sarandon, who three years later was to make another film, "The Banger Sisters", about a member of the sixties' generation hitting middle age. In that film her character, Vinnie, is a former rock groupie turned conformist middle-class suburban housewife who reverts to her old wild ways after meeting an old friend.

"Anywhere But Here" is not a film with great deal of plot, but as Roger Ebert pointed out its interest lies in the characterisation and the performances. The relationship between Adele and Ann resembles that (albeit in a less extreme form) that between Edina and Saffron in the British television comedy "Absolutely Fabulous", an eccentric, extroverted middle-aged mother who behaves like a teenager and an introverted, small-c conservative daughter who behaves like a middle-aged woman. The film has been called a coming-of-age drama, but whereas Ann might come of age, Adele seems to be going through the opposite process, that of immaturing with age. Ann never wanted to come to Beverly Hills in the first place, and would have preferred to stay in Wisconsin with her stepfather, to whom she is close. (She has not seen her biological father since she was a young child). She has little interest in an acting career, and certainly none in Adele's plan to turn her into a Hollywood goddess, preferring to pursue an academic career at Brown University, a prestigious East Coast Ivy League college.

Sarandon is excellent here, far better than she was to be in "The Banger Sisters", where she is reasonably good as Vinnie the stuffy suburbanite, but ludicrous and embarrassing when she tries to portray Vinnie reverting to her previous self. I think that the difference is that Vinnie was played as a caricature whereas Adele, although she may have her own ludicrous side, is nevertheless a recognisable human being. Sarandon allegedly insisted that Natalie Portman be cast as her daughter, informing the producers that she would not be interested in the project otherwise. If this story is true, Sarandon's stance certainly paid off, because Portman succeeds brilliantly in rising to the challenge of portraying a teenager who has to play second fiddle to an eccentric, over-the-top mother and yet without making Ann seem dowdy or boring. (It helps that, even at 18, Portman was already a striking beauty). The result is a human drama which is frequently interesting and at times touching. 7/10.

Anything But Here -- or There

[rbatty · 3/10 · 20 November 1999]

My suggestion (my wife concurs): Watch the come-ons a couple of times. You will see the best parts of the movie, and you won't be disappointed. This could have been a good movie, but there just wasn't much there (gee, sounds like Random Hearts!).

Not that the acting was bad. Sarandon & Portman did well. They just didn't have much to work with. The plot was thin and there were huge holes in the story line.

Example: Portman is embarrassed by her mother, but sees nothing wrong with bringing friends – and what part of the movie did she make friends? – home to their crappy apartment that is in, supposedly, a cheap part of Beverly Hills. It leaves you wondering how much of this movie was left on the cutting room floor.

Three out of ten. Check it out on video if desperate.

Sarandon again exhibits her talent to touch your heart even when see is playing someone you don't like.

[shosee · 9/10 · 25 November 1999]

Natile Portman and Susan Sarandon play off of each other like a symphony in this coming of age story about a young girl, who is sentenced to life as the daughter of one of the nuttest women you will ever encounter. Sarandon has this ability, call it talent if you will, to play some of the most off-beat characters and bring their humanity to forefront of any film she makes. As the mother of this obviously brilliant and muture beyond her years young girl, Sarandon alternates between being the mom and being the child with the ease of a ballet dancer. More importantly she does it with strength and flare without stomping all over Portman's portrayal of the daughter. The question is always asked when we deconstruct the film plot, who changes? This film is certainly about the daughter, but if you look close at the dreams and sacrifices that Mom makes you come to understand that she changes in step with her daughter. I am willing to bet this makes all of us in the audience change also. The hallmark of fine drama

Well performed, well directed, poorly written

[Birdy-16 · 6/10 · 24 December 2000]

Sarandon is good. Portman is close to marvelous. The most important force in this film tough is Wayne Wang. He clearly got that it are not the cry-and-hug or the emotional-shouting scènes that give us the best drama but the simple, quiet moments his characters experience every day. But then there is the script, apart from not being very original, the biggest problem with it is that the mother-daughter relationship, that is central in this movie, isn't difficult enough. So it are the small side-stories that move and hurt you.

Not just worse than "Tumbleweeds", but one of the worst movies of 1999

[LDB_Movies · 5/10 · 7 January 2001]

I'm glad I waited to see this on cable. I had heard it was "not as good" as "Tumbleweeds", which essentially tells the same story. I rented "Tumbleweeds" last year and loved it. "Anywhere But Here" is too long, lacks a direct plot, and not even the good acting can save it. Halfway through I picked up a magazine and periodically glanced at the movie between pages - and I didn't miss anything.

The bad points: - the plot was meandering and overall the movie was too long

• the use of flashbacks to transition scenes instead of to give us new information (example - after telling us that Adele bought the Mercedes for the trip, we flashback to.... you guessed it, Adele buying the Mercedes... for the trip!)

• Bonnie Bedelia is totally wasted in her miniscule role

The good points: - Natalie Portman perfectly underplays her role and thereby gives it much emotional depth

• Susan Sarandon does the best she can (I am a big fan of hers) with a terribly-written role.

So, my advice is.... SEE TUMBLEWEEDS!