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   Review: Talented Moore lost in 'Liberty'

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Topic: Review: Talented Moore lost in 'Liberty' (Read 325 times)

Rhune
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Review: Talented Moore lost in 'Liberty'
« on: Jan 9^th, 2004, 7:25pm »

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Review: Talented Moore lost in 'Liberty'
Somebody get this girl an agent
Christy Lemire
Associated Press
Friday, January 9, 2004 Posted: 10:35 AM EST (1535 GMT)

(AP) -- Mandy Moore has something you can't learn and you can't buy, something you can't acquire through Botox injections or Method acting lessons. She has an on-screen radiance that seems effortless, a presence that makes her impossible not to watch, and a substance that her fellow multitasking pop stars sorely lack.

Which makes seeing her in movies like "Chasing Liberty" all the more frustrating.

You want more for Moore than this piffle of a romantic comedy in which she plays the president's daughter (though I must admit, I probably would have loved this movie when I was 12) because she seems capable of more.

She seems capable of being not just a singer who acts, but a real actress, and I wish she would choose roles that allow her to prove it.

So far she's played a stuck-up high school girl in "The Princess Diaries" and a prim high school girl in "A Walk to Remember." Last year's "How to Deal" seems downright edgy in retrospect because it allowed her to play a cynical high school girl.

Moore is 19 now. It's time for her to graduate to more complicated roles in riskier movies.

For now, in "Chasing Liberty," she plays first daughter Anna Foster, whom we first spy in the midst of that teen-girl movie rite of passage: trying on clothes in front of the mirror before a big date and jumping up and down on her bed.

Anna is sick of being constantly surrounded by Secret Service agents (though, um, it's kinda necessary, since her dad is the president and all) and suggests to her parents (Mark Harmon and Caroline Goodall) that an upcoming diplomatic trip to Europe would be the perfect opportunity for her to assert a little independence.

While in Prague at a Roots concert -- the best part of the movie because the band plays "The Seed 2.0," an awesome song, almost in its entirety -- Anna ditches her protectors by dashing off with a British stranger named Ben (Matthew Goode).

And who could blame her? Newcomer Goode is a total find, with a sly, sexy smile, a rich voice and dark good looks reminiscent of a younger Hugh Jackman.

What Anna doesn't realize, though, is that when she hops on the back of Ben's scooter, she's still being protected: He's an undercover Secret Service agent. She's also being followed by agents Weiss (Jeremy Piven) and Morales (Annabella Sciorra, woefully underused in a stiff role), who have a parallel and totally unnecessary blossoming romance.

As Anna and Ben trek across Europe and fall in love, director Andy Cadiff, a sitcom veteran, plays their adventures like an MTV remake of "Roman Holiday," brought to you by Pepsi. Everything is loud and fast, everyone is young and good-looking -- except for McGruff (Martin Hancock), the daffy British dude they meet on a train who believes he can create a global community by posting stickers of "The Six Million Dollar Man" wherever he goes.

In no time, Anna has traded in her complaints of wanting a real life for repeated exclamations of "This is amazing!" and "This is incredible!" She bungee-jumps, she skinny-dips -- though she's skillfully covered by shadows. And yes, girls, Ben takes his shirt off, too.

You know she'll learn his true identity eventually, that she'll feel hurt and betrayed by his deception, and that they'll suffer a temporary separation. The fact that you want these two crazy, strikingly attractive kids to end up together in the end is a huge testament to these young actors' potential.

"Chasing Liberty" is rated PG-13 for sexual content and brief nudity.

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MzWings
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Re: Review: Talented Moore lost in 'Liberty'
« Reply #1 on: Jan 9^th, 2004, 8:34pm »

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On April 10, Amanda Leigh Moore will reach the ripe "old" age of twenty.

She's accomplished, and has accomplished quite a bit in the few years she's been on earth. For the life of me, from the first time I saw or heard of her, I haven't cared for her one twit. *shrug* Though I wish her well - I wouldn't pay a single cent for her CD's or go to her movies - or rent her movies.

While I realize she has a huge fanbase (*big shrug here*) - I just don't get what all the hubbub is about.

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