Last night Kristi and I rented Chasing Liberty, a simple Romance/Comedy about how the President's daughter, unable to experience life like a normal 18 year-old, escapes from the clutches of her Secret Service minders. What she doesn't know is the new heartthrob she pals around with is also a minder. What the director didn't know was how to make a good movie.
The story is fine, if unoriginal. I like the casting and most of the acting, Mandy Moore is good as the First Daughter and Mark Harmon is fine as the President. The male lead, Mathew Goode was also done well. The casting of Jeremy Pivens is always good because I'm a huge fan, though he was over-the-top in a stupid subplot with Annabella Sciorra.
The real problem for us is the movie was produced with an eye to what some old fart thinks a teenage girl wants to see, or--just as bad--what a preview audience tested as acceptable. If this was done by a good director, we would have seen more editing, a tightened script, and a good coming-of-age movie about a girl from privledged and confining circumstances. Instead, we got a big-budget made-for-TV director who isn't ready for the big time.
*sigh* I know I'm old for the genre, but so what? Make a good movie and people will see it, make this and people will complain.
Grade: "C" / See it on cable
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