Customer Reviews

Chasing Liberty [VHS]

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Mandy Moore, Annabella Sciorra and Jeremy Piven are absolutely wonderful in the movie.
Storyline could have been better.
There are many excellent scenes of Europe, which make me want to trek thru
many places (Washington, Prague, Venice, Austria, Berlin, Harvard U, London).
An excellent collection of great music is in the movie, in the same order:
- American Girl, by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
- The Seed, by The Roots
- If You Won't, by Jesse Harris
- Vivi Davvero, by Giorgia -- amazing Italian tune !
- If I'm not in love (with you), from Faith Hill's Breathe album
- Life will go on, from Chris Issak's Always Got Tonight album
- Puccini's Nessun Dorma, by Amici Forever -- always great !!
- To be with you, by Caroline Lost -- WoW !!!

----- For those who enjoy the music in the movie, here's the complete list (from IMDB) -----
(all original music in the film is by Christian Henson)
01. Goo Goo Dolls - Big Machine (trailer)
02. Michelle Branch - Find Your Way Back (trailer)
03. Tom Petty - American Girl (Washington DC - opening)
04. Rooney - Stay Away (Wahington DC - first date)
05. 7th Sun - Melody (Prague - walking to concert)
06. The Roots - The Seed 2.0 (Prague - concert)
07. Frantisek Cerny - Deja Vu (Prague - Marquis de Sade bar)
08. Jesse Harris - If you won't (Prague - walking down the alley)
09. Offenbach - La Belle Helen (Prague - the opera playing on the screen)
10. Jason Mraz - Who Needs Shelter (Prague - waking up on the rooftop)
11. Apollo 440 - Can't Stop the Rock (Prague - train station)
12. Sean Paul - Get Busy (McGruff on the train)
13. Giorgia - Vivi Davvero (exploring Venice)
14. Faith Hill - If I'm Not In Love (Austria - ben chasing anna on the kids bike)
15. Sean Paul - Get Busy (Austria - bungee jumping)
16. Jason Mraz - Who Needs Shelter (Austria - waking up at the campsite)
17. Yomanda - Free (Berlin - love parade)
18. Mansun - Wide Open Space - Perfecto mix by Paul Oakenfold (Berlin - love parade)
19. Benny Benassi - Satisfaction (Berlin - love parade - good beat, no lyrics)
20. Chris Isaak - Life Will Go On (Berlin - in the helicopter and during flashback)
21. uncredited opera singer - Nessun Dorma (London - in the theater at the end)
22. Caroline Lost - To Be With You (during credits)

Let me just start off with yes, I love romantic fluff, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. This was a great piece of romantic fluff to watch on a lazy afternoon. It wasn't boring, the lead characters looked good, and it had a great soundtrack. Sure, you could drive a Mac truck through the plot holes, and I'd be pretty scared if the secret service was as dimwitted as they were in this movie, but it still did not take away from my enjoyment of the movie. If your a realist and hate quality cheese, save your time and money, and don't watch this movie. However, if you're like me and like happy endings, cute kisses, and leaving reality back in the real world, you may just enjoy this flick too. Good job, Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode!

If you are tired of movies filled with computer graphics, tired of movies filled with explosions and destruction, tired of movies of teens doing things that will get them arrested, tired of movies about people with "real life problems", Chasing Liberty is a delightful, lightweight, fun (and funny), escapism movie that leaves you feeling good at the end. Yes the plot is a bit implausible and limited, but that is the fun of this movie. Mandy Moore is wonderful as Anna Foster, only daughter of U.S. President Foster, who is tired of living in a bubble. She wants to be a real teenager and experience life and love. Anna escapes the bubble, while on a state trip to Czech Republic, with the aid of someone (Matthew Goode), who turns out not to be who she thinks. Mandy has amazing talent for her age, and is set to be a superstar actress in the near future. She does not deserve to still be titled as a "pop princess" anymore. She is an actress in her own right, who can sing. She fills the screen with her personality and presence, definitely a star. The movie extends her skills requiring acting during action scenes. Goode's character as a British secret service agent (not clear how) is underutilized.
Chasing Liberty and Mandy Moore have been unfairly savaged by the "critics". It is a beautifully shot, nice, fluffy and fun movie and should be seen by those who want to escape from real life for a couple of hours. If you do not, there are plenty of alternatives.

By nature, fathers tend to be overly protective of their daughters. This is even more true if the daughter is an only-child. The ante goes up even more when the father just so happens to be the President of the United States and is able to keep tabs on his offspring wherever she may wander!

Such is the backdrop of this charming & refreshing Romantic Comedy. It displays the frustration of a young girl (Mandy Moore) who is fed up with being followed everywhere she goes. Her rebellious stage is juxtaposed with her dad's overbearing but loving concern for her safety.

One of the nice things about this film is the subtle way in which it shows how both father & daughter are right....and how both father & daughter are wrong in their assumptions about the world. The movie never takes a "preachy" tone, and to do so would have ruined the charm of the story.

Mandy Moore is, in a word, adorable. She has a warm and radiant camera presence and her charisma is what really puts this DVD over the top. Had any other actress played her role I doubt if this would have scored more than 3 or maybe 4 stars. Moore's persona by itself is worth the price of this DVD.

So, if you're looking for a different kind of Romantic Comedy, this one might be worth a shot. Instead of a regular girl turning into a princess we're shown the life of a virtual princess - who wants nothing more than to be a normal girl. Very entertaining & feel good stuff!

Yomanda- youre free*
Jason Mraz- who needs shelter*
Caroline Lost- to be with you
Chris Issak- life will go on
Faith Hill- If I'm not in love with you*
Jesse Harris- if you wont
The Roots- the seed
Giorgia- Vovi Davvero
Michelle Branch- Find your way back
Rooney- stay away*

* = personal favorites

I know there was a movie made about the mad cap adventures of the President's son, namely the 1996 film "First Kid," but for the most part Hollywood prefers stories in which the president has a daughter, whether you are talking comedies (1998's "My Date with the President's Daughter") or dramas (this year's "Spartan"). Of course the current president has twin daughters and the previous president had a daughter as an only child, so it is not like the idea is unrealistic. But given that the president is flying from one daughter's college graduation to that of the other this week while the nation has military forces in several Middle Eastern countries, when "The West Wing" begins the season with one of the president's daughters kidnapped by Middle Eastern terrorists it makes me extremely nervous because surely there are real people out there in the real world thinking along similar lines. Never before in the history of the Republic has being the daughter of the President of the United States been as dangerous as it is right now.

If Anna Foster (Mandy Moore), the first daughter in the romantic comedy "Chasing Liberty" 2004 lived in the real world she would have a decidedly different view of her life. But for her the worst thing in the world is trying to have a "normal" date while still in high school. That is pretty hard when the Secret Service lets her date drive through the White House gate but then trashes the flowers he brought looking for who knows what nefarious devices or biological entities. Anna, whose code name is "Liberty" for ironic reasons that matter to the film but would never occur to the Secret Service, is not happy with her father (Mark Harmon), so she tries to wrangle a deal. When the family goes to Prague for an economic summit she will get to hang out with Gabrielle (Beatrice Rosen), the daughter of the French ambassador and do normal teenage things with only two Secret Service agents, Weiss (Jeremy Piven) and Morales (Annabella Sciorra).

Despite the warnings of her mother (Caroline Goodall) never to make a deal with a politician, Anna believes her father will honor the deal, so when she discovers that she is having a good time once again surrounded by agents, she bolts from the place and hops on the back of the motorcycle with the good looking guy. His name is Ben Calder (Matthew Goode), and he is only too happy to scurry Anna away from her watchers. This is not only because she is a good-looking young woman with a nice smile, but also because he is also a Secret Servent agent (in other words, we are doing a version of "It Happened One Night"). It seems the President was thinking ahead for such circumstances and orders Calder to let Anna engage in her youthful acts of rebellion without ever telling her the truth.

The rest of "Chasing Liberty" should be clear to you at this point. Even the bickering between agents Weiss and Morales is rather predictable in how it will play out as well. However this film has a couple of things going in its favor. First, there are the European locations. Anna and Ben travel from Prague to Berlin, via Venice no less, so if young women watching the film never want to be the daughter of the President a trip to Europe will surely be high on their list. Second, Moore and Calder have good chemistry going for them. She can go skinny-dipping in the Danube and still be a sweet girl while he actually seems smart enough to take care of them while they are running around central Europe.

Along the way they meet the sort of interesting people you expect to find on the continent. There is a hippie type named McGruff (Martin Hancock) who has a rather neat idea for spreading happiness around the world and a gondolier wannabe (Joseph Long) who gets to help out our young couple. Of course with many of these adventures you keep waiting for the Secret Service side of Ben to come through and stop Anna from doing some of the things she does, but where would be the fun in that? Moore is enticing enough to keep rooting for her throughout the film and forgive many of the film's problems, but then we get to the finish.

A good finish can forgive a great many cinematic sins. The past couple of months I have been comparing the endings of a lot of films to that of "Uptown Girls," by no means a classic film, but with an effective conclusion that brought together a whole bunch of plot elements. "Chasing Liberty" sets up the opportunity for some sort of grand romantic gesture at the end, but aside from an interesting duet version of the operatic aria "Nessun Dorma" there is nothing special here and there should have been. Moore, who is going to be acting long after most of the rest of the current crop of young singers turned actresses are on the "Whatever happened to?" list, carries most of this film by herself, with Goode helping when the story allows, but in the end the script should have helped her bring this film home.

To save me from all the disasters of movies I've been watching lately(I won't mention any(The Big Bounce))!! Mandy is so amazing and loveable. Matthew Goode I can see becoming a pretty big star, he does an amazing job playing both sides of Ben, he delivers a fine performance!! Mandy Moore is excellent as Anna Foster(the president's daughter) and the best performance has to go to Mark Harmon(president James Foster). What happens in the movie, Ben Calder(Goode) is a secret agent, working for Anna(Moore)'s father(the president). Anna is always being watched and garded everywhere she goes, she never has any freedom, so her father makes her believe that she does have freedom when she accidentally goes to Venice instead of Berlin with Ben, who's a complete stranger to her. Then of course, they fall in love, but he has to confess to her still.

It's just such an entertaining little film, the gag reel isn't very good, however, they just have the one guy throughout the whole thing practically. So, thumbs down to that, but the rest is spectacular, definitely a film to get!!

notice how all of the banally pathetic reviewers whom gave this film a 1 rating list very few, if any reason for doing so? Sure, they say "the acting was bad", blah blah blah without elaborating on such profoundly drastic opinions.

First of all, the professional critics who HATED this movie even said the acting is very good, so I have no clue how these idiots think they can make such a ludicrous, basless claim. Mandy is no doubt a talented actress, who exudes charm and screen presence. She delivers her lines with meaning and poise, while very naturally. Mathew Goode clearly displays his years of theatre experience as he portrays Ben Clader as a withdrawn, yet emotional character.

Though I really liked the story, it really did not draw you in to these people. There was more emphasis on the situation or plot than I would have liked; we never truly got to see the characters come to light and reveal their inner depths. However, the screenplay was written quite cleverly and with immense charm, which detracts all flaws from any lacking areas.

I highly recommend anyone to see this film, I have talked to women who dragged their opposing husbands tho this film, whom ended up liking it. There are Mandy haters who saw this film unwillingly and ended up loving it. I assure that you will at least have a good time, if not completely and utterly love the film altogether. You will definitely have a good time at the theatre. The plot, acting, cinematograhpy, directing, and above all, scenery will transcend you.

*don't listen to anyone who gives this film a 1, even someone who hates it would not give it a 1, it is simply better than that*

I absolutely adore this movie. I am 33 years old and still giggled when I watched this. Ben Calder is a young Hugh Grant, He plays this romantic comic role Perfectly. I have a crush and I am married Ha Ha. Mandy Moore is adorable. To watch them both "fall in love" and their agent counterparts was exciting and sweet. This movie just made me feel great. I had to call my husband and tell him I adored him. It is a sweet story, funny especially the McGruff character. Watch it. It will take you away from reality for 2 hours and leave you wanting to watch it again.

If you will simply take a deep breath, suspend disbelief a bit and relax, you will find this to be a light, enjoyable chick-flick fluff movie with the usual conflicts and standard happy ending. The plot was somewhat incredible -- the Secret Service doesn't mess around, protecting first-family members -- and Mandy removed her clothes more readily than a real girl probably would (I'm not complaining), but all in all it's a good film that keeps you wondering how they're going to manage to wrap up the plot in the expected fashion. Plus, viewers are treated to a few delightful glimpses of the beautiful Annabella Sciorra, which will leave you wondering why we don't see her more often in the cinema. Enjoy.