Movie Review: Chasing Liberty

Chasing Liberty (2004) 

Directed by Andy Cadiff 

Written by Derek Guiley 

Starring Mandy Moore, Matthew Goode, Jeremy Piven, Annabella Sciorra, Mark Harmon

Release Date January January 9th, 2004

Published January 8th, 2004 

In my review of Mandy Moore's film debut A Walk To Remember, I employed the hack-y cliché “don't quit your day job” in reference to Ms. Moore's excruciatingly-bland performance. At that time, it was a justifiable, if horribly cynical, criticism of her performance. But that is no excuse for using such a cliché. Since then, Moore has made me eat those words (sort of.) Her pleasant turn in the pop-sensible teen drama How To Deal showed marked improvement over A Walk To Remember. Now, in her latest starring effort as the President's daughter in Chasing Liberty, Moore shows even more improvement as a charming, sweet leading lady.

Liberty is the secret service code name of Anna Foster who has spent her formative years in the largest possible spotlight. Anna is the 18-year-old daughter of a two-term President (Mark Harmon). When we meet Anna, she is about to head out on her first date ever. The date is a miserable failure that ends with Secret Service guns drawn on the boyfriend who mistakenly attempted a surprise gift. That's it for the boyfriend. Luckily, Anna has a trip with dad coming up that could provide an opportunity for fun, if she can shake the Secret Service.

On a state visit to Prague, Anna plans to meet up with a friend and head for Berlin for something called Love Fest. Dad doesn't want her to go but relents when she agrees to having a pair of top agents, Jeremy Piven and Annabella Sciorra, follow her. That plan falls apart though when dad breaks his promise and Anna is swarmed by agents while at a concert. To lose them, Anna gets the help of Ben (Matthew Good) who whisks her away on his scooter. What Anna doesn't know is that Ben is a Secret Service agent.

Thus begins a whirlwind romantic trip across Europe as Anna thinks she is evading the Secret Service while Ben fends off her advances while trying to keep up with her. Moore and Good have little chemistry and with all the next-big-thing talk about Good, I was surprised how wooden and dull he is. Moore, on the other hand, is effervescent. Comparisons to a young Doris Day are not unwarranted. She is sunny and sweet and has lost that cloying innocence that sacked her performance in A Walk To Remember.

Chasing Liberty is not a great film. It's full of typical romantic comedy clichés and those romantic dialogue bits that always pay off at the end. The typical eye-rolling moments of realization and forgiveness that you've seen a million times are not improved upon here. What makes the film nearly passable is Moore, who has found that kind of star quality that many actresses never find. Whenever she is onscreen, I couldn't help but smile. She is aided by a funny subplot involving Piven and Sciorra's Secret Service agents who fall in love while watching the first daughter fall in love.

Maybe it's my romantic idealism, but I have always wanted to backpack across Europe with a beautiful stranger and fall in love while scamming for places to sleep for a night or thumbing a ride on the back of a farm truck on it way to some tiny village that hasn't aged since the 1800s. Chasing Liberty captures some of that romantic idealism, especially in Moore's wonderfully likable performance.

Movie Review: Freaky Friday

Freaky Friday (2003) 

Directed by Mark Waters 

Written by Heather Hach, Leslie Dixon

Starring Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Harold Gould, Chad Michael Murray, Mark Harmon

Release Date August 6th, 2003 

Published August 6th, 2003 

1976's Freaky Friday preceded a craze for body switching movies in the 1980's. Remember Fred Savage and Judge Reinhold in Vice Versa? George Burns and Charlie Schlatter in 18 Again? And horror of horrors Kirk Cameron and Dudley Moore in Like Father Like Son. Most recently Rob Schneider pulled off the trick in The Hot Chick. So, history was solidly against the new Freaky Friday starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsey Lohan.

Dr. Tess Coleman (Curtis) seems to have everything in her life working like clockwork, a thriving psychiatric practice, a book deal and her fiancé Ryan (Mark Harmon). Everything is good except for her difficult teen daughter Anna (Lohan) who is struggling in school, dresses from a thrift store and spends her time playing in a rock band in the family garage.

Anna is also unhappy about Tess's fiancé and upcoming wedding. Unfortunately, Tess is too busy to notice. Everything finally comes to a head between mother and daughter when Anna asks to skip the wedding rehearsal to play in a battle of the bands. Mom says no, leading to a screaming match at a Chinese restaurant. The mother of the owner of the restaurant is one of those oddly beatific old Asian women that exist only in Hollywood to dispense supernatural advice and/or meddling. In this case, the old women uses some mystical fortune cookies to teach mother and daughter how difficult each other’s lives are.

The next morning, the freaky Friday of the title, Mom and daughter have switched bodies and it couldn't happen at a worse time. Anna has an important test and a burgeoning flirtation with a boy that mom would not approve of, Jake played by Jake Murray. Meanwhile, Mom has a patient she absolutely must see and a big surprise from Ryan, who also is her book editor. After visiting the restaurant again and consulting the fortunes from the cookies, they find that the only way to reverse the switch is through learning to understand each other.

That may sound hokey, and it is, but Director Mark S. Waters has some surprises along the way that leaven the potential after-school special moments. A funny script by first timer Heather Hach and two excellent lead actresses help Waters deliver a family movie that avoids the treacly pitfalls of most non-animated family films.

Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday has the best role she's had since True Lies and she tears into it with the same fervor and imagination. She shifts from uptight adult to slacker teen in a perfectly natural manner. Unlike a Judge Reinhold or Dudley Moore from those awful 80's body switch movies, Curtis never embarrasses herself. There are a couple of uncomfortable over the top moments but considering the circumstance of the story that’s easily forgiven. As for Lohan, she doesn't pull of the switch quite as well as Curtis but she is game enough to get through the rough spots and earns and maintains audience sympathy through the body swap and back.

I honestly expected to hate this film, not just based on the history of films with similar stories, but also because it's yet another Disney retread. Whether it's recycling their theme park rides or betraying their animated library with awful straight to video sequels, Disney has shown a distinct lack of creativity. However, that lack of new ideas has yielded Pirates of the Caribbean, possibly the summers best film, and now this remake. Freaky Friday is a surprisingly, or maybe even shockingly, funny family film. It's seems Disney at least has the brains to hire creative people even if the ideas and stories are less than creative.