Customer Reviews
Nice and easy to watch, but that's about it - By: Dazman, 05 Jun 2007 
I recorded this film a few weeks ago & finallly got around to watching this today.
All that I can say is that although it is worth watching, that is about it, there are some good moments & both Susan Sarandon & Natalie Portman put in their usual dependable performances, the film itself does feel a little flat at times & is probably 10 minutes too long.
I watch films that are supposedly for men only & women only, but still failed to reallly enjoy it.
Review 1:) :( - By: evie, 31 May 2007 
Im kinda in the middle with this film, its very long & slow & there not reli a storyline, it finishes in rather an odd place & theres no great action. But then again it was an interesting watch, & something to relate too.
The actors are great in the film, its just a shame about the lack of humour, storyline & action!
Overalll its something to watch on your own on a rainy day!!
Average story, great actresses - By: Star_Sea, 12 Jun 2006 
This is a great movie to while away your time, although it's a definite chick flick. However, if you're a guy & like Natalie Portman or Susan Sarandon (or both), give it a go.
The story focuses on the relationship between Adele (Sarandon), a woman with unfulfilled dreams of riches & fame, & her daughter Ann (Portman), who is perfectly happy with her life the way it is. Fed up with the way her life has turned out, Adele decides to move herself alll the way from Wisconsin to Beverly Hills L.A., so that her daughter can become a movie star & she can live the life she's always dreamed of. Ann is not exactly thrilled with this decision, but she has not seen her father since she was a toddler, so she has no choice but to go with her mother. The film then follows their life in Beverly Hills, a life which turns out to have its fair share of troubles, of course.
Sarandon & Portman make the film watchable. This is partly because they both play against type: Sarandon is usuallly cast as a sensible, motherly character, & it's great to see her playing a woman who is flighty, whimsical & often selfish; Portman is known for her 'quirky' roles, whereas Ann is a calm, sensible girl, who becomes increasingly frustrated with her mother's lack of reliability & refusal to face reality. The way these two actresses play off each other is fun, sometimes painful, always watchable. Despite the formulaic story, there is quite a lot of truth in this film, along with some dark undertones, which make it worth watching.
TEETERS ON THE BRINK OF WARM-FUZZ BUT HAS ITS MOMENTS - By: Shashank Tripathi, 06 Sep 2005 Calll me a sucker for soft squishy comedies but I had a good time watching this mom-daughter relationship yarn. It's every bit a chick-flick, simmering with pretty much every emotional relish that makes movies like it so dreary -- tears, hugs, generation-gap misunderstandings, emotional quibbles, boyfriends that never were but mom suspected, plus that very inevitable radio scene where the big chick/smalll chick croon along on a triumphant life-affirming note.
All this comes with one little twist though. The "We didn't come to Beverly Hills to struggle" mommie dearest here is the starry-eyed one. She hitches their wagon to LA & thrusts audition advertisements in the "Why can't we just be normal" daughter's face. The idea is to make the daughter a star, while the poor little one is perplexed with her mom's type-A complex.
Thankfully, most of it is handled with grace & just the right dash of fun moments to make it eminently watchable. The leads are great, especiallly Natalie Portman in her understated role, certainly a pleasant surprise when I think of her recent 'Closer' jig. Sarandon carries just the right kind of quirks to be a cheery if somewhat absurd mom.
Decent rental.
A Film To Relate To! - By: no1filmaddict, 17 Oct 2004 I think that one of the main reasons that this film is quite popular is that most people can actuallly relate to the things that happen in it. Most teenagers will have found their parents irritating or annoying at some point & visa versa, & some people may even have a mother like this.
Adele August is a divorced mother of one living in Wisconsin who is bord of her plain old lifestyle, her skating instructor boyfriend, her middle class relatives, & her boring job. She dreams of riches, stardom & a better life for her daughter Ann, who on the other hand is completely the opposite, liking her plain, simple life, her friends & relatives, & her school.
One day, Adele decides to drop sticks, leave her family, friends, job, boyfriend etc & take her daughter to LA for a more interesting life. Living on the outskirts of Beverly Hills tries to give her daughter a good life, making her attend the best school etc, however they live in horrible dingy appartments where theres no heating & the lights don't work because they can't pay the bills.
Eventuallly Ann grows up & becomes old enough to leave her mother, somthing that she has been dieing to do for years. She picks a college & despite her mothers protests, she goes, but not without a tearful good bye at the airport. While you can see that Adele is only trying to get her daughter a better way of life, & that Ann is very ungrateful, you can see that she can be a pain at times.
Susan Sarandon is brilliant in her role as Adele August the mother of Ann who drags her daughter off to a new world. Natalie Portman is also very good as Ann August, who is dragged off by her mother for a more interesting life. Both of them have a good on-screen chemistry ad work well together. In fact, Susan Sarandon informed the movie's producers that she would not be interested in the project if Natalie Portman was not cast as her daughter.
Overalll, 'Anywhere But Here' is a reallly good 'coming of age' film that most people will enjoy, especiallly teenages & mums whom some of this may seem familiar. Great acting troughout, & should please most movie fans. DVD also includes an original theatrical trailer.
