(Seriously… slap some sense into this chick)
CAST: Mandy Moore, Matthew Goode, Jeremy Piven, Annabella Sciorra, Caroline Goodall.
DIRECTOR: Andy Cadiff
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and runaway first daughters in need of a serious thrashing - straight ahead…
In our review for SUNSHINE CLEANING (review # 240 ), we discussed jobs that seem glamorous on the surface, but are actually royal pains-in-the-asses, at best, and outright nightmares, at worst. I think it’s safe to say that “First Daughter” is pretty much right up there with the most atrocious of them. Oh, sure… it’s more of a role and not technically a job – but let’s face it: it might as well be.
If our latest review, CHASING LIBERTY, is any indication, being the first daughter looks about as appealing as standing on street corners carrying clipboards and trying to get annoyed pedestrians to sign up for some charity or other. Wait, scratch that… at least the charity-solicitors are not monitored by a bazillion Secret Service agents. Which is definitely the case when you are sprung from the loins of The American President. And I don’t mean the offspring of Michael Douglas and Annette Bening.
Our heroine is Anna Foster, and she is the daughter of the President of the United States (Mark Harmon). I wish I could say that Anna goes through the same shite that teenage girls all over America do, but that would be a lie. Unless you count having your dinner dates constantly ruined by some overzealous guy with a gun, an earpiece, and a badge. Actually… make that, “guys.” At this rate, Anna herself says she’ll never get past third base if this keeps up. And I’m inclined to agree, because there is no more formidable cock-blocker than the United States Secret Service. On that, you must trust me.
The last straw happens when, during a trip with the Prez and the First Nag to Europe, Anna discovers the Prague concert she attends crawling with the Earpiece Brigade – despite her father promising to only assign two agents to her. This is enough for Anna to go all Audrey Hepburn-like in ROMAN HOLIDAY. Specifically, she goes apeshit and runs off – sans Secret Service protection. In a foreign country. In a continent not always known for loving Americans. Where she doesn’t speak the language. Smart, Anna. Very smart.
With two bickering secret service agents (Annabella Sciorra, Jeremy Piven) in tow, Anna (code name: Liberty) hightails it out of Prague with a British hottie named Calder (Matthew Goode) whom she runs into. Before you know it, Anna and Calder are doing their own version of NATIONAL LAMPOON’S EUROPEAN VACATION – basically bouncing from Italy to Austria to Germany, causing havoc wherever they go.
Will Anna regret her decision to make a run for it? What’s the deal with Calder? Is his meeting with Anna as accidental as it seems? Or is there more to him than meets the eye? Will the pursuing Secret Service agents catch up to them? What will the Prez do when his folks finally catch up with his daughter? Ground her for the next, oh, 50 years or so?
I hope so. Someone needs to. Dingbats like her give Americans overseas a bad name.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: CHASING LIBERTY attempts to evoke the spirit of the 1953 Audrey Hepburn/Gregory Peck gem ROMAN HOLIDAY, in which Hepburn’s royal princess escapes for a weekend in Rome to know what life as a commoner feels like. She ends up in the company of an American journalist (Gregory Peck) who volunteers to be her guide for those two days. The thing is, he knows her true identity as a VIP and that she is no commoner – and plans to use his time with her as the basis of a story. But, they fall in love - and things get complicated.
CHASING LIBERTY only partially succeeds in recreating ROMAN HOLIDAY’s magic. The central premise of the First Daughter fleeing from her confining circumstances to taste real freedom for the first time, all the while being shadowed by a Secret Service agent who falls in love with her, is a very compelling one. Unfortunately, either due to how the heroine is written or portrayed (more likely the latter), the film’s overall quality is diminished.
Mandy Moore is without a doubt a talented singer, and she holds her own as an actress in all of her films. While her acting in CHASING LIBERTY is technically fine, the choices she makes time and again render the character a whiny pill. If a character is going to behave recklessly, it’s important for the audience to be on her side. As it is, Anna’s decision to engage in activities that not only have the potential to start an international incident and embarrass her country, but also willfully cause her parents undue concern, are already enough to make the character unsympathetic. Moore’s strident and one-note performance further makes us view Anna with a skeptical eye. The role needed someone with the ability to sell a character – weaknesses and all. As competent as Moore is, acting-wise, she’s not quite good enough to sell Anna Foster and all her foibles to us. When you’re more interested in the Secret Service agents tailing Anna, you know something is wrong.
As the covert agents keeping an eye on Anna, Matthew Goode, Jeremy Piven, and Annabella Sciorra are quite entertaining, and they are the reasons CHASING LIBERTY manages to not only stay afloat, but actually rise a bit above the average mark. Goode is, as his name suggests, quite good as the tourist who is more than just a tourist. This film was his screen debut and he makes an impressive one. With his deep, commanding voice and magnetic screen presence, Goode takes ownership of virtually all his scenes – especially the ones with Moore. Frankly, he steals all of them from her. Both the actor and his character are far more interesting than the lead – and that is both a blessing and a curse. To further undermine Moore’s showcase, Sciorra and Piven as the squabbling “watch-dogs” on Anna’s detail are a more interesting couple to spend time with.
As the President and First Lady, Mark Harmon and Caroline Goodall are sharp, warm, and likable. It’s a shame they couldn’t have been utilized more. You actually sympathize with them a lot more than you do with Anna, who constantly comes across as an immature twit who needs a reality check. You never felt this way about Audrey Hepburn’s character in ROMAN HOLIDAY.
Verdict: CHASING LIBERTY is the better of the two “First Daughter/Secret Service Agent Romances” that came out in 2004 (the other being FIRST DAUGHTER). A weak lead hampers this film from being the good romantic comedy/ROMAN HOLIDAY update that it could’ve been. As it is, it’s merely slightly above average.
