Chasing Liberty – Review

Let’s get one thing straight: Mandy Moore is Not Audrey Hepburn, and Matthew Goode is Definitely Not Gregory Peck, Mandy Moore will Not win and academy award for this role, and this is Not a remake of Roman Holiday. The fact that Mandy Moore is an American makes all the difference in the world.

In this More-modern, non-remake version, Mandy Moore plays Anna Foster, the daughter of the the President of the United States. As the First Daughter, she attempts to have a normal life while battling against her entourage of Secret Service agents, whom she knows all by first-name only. Her life is awkwardly enough focused solely on sex and dating. No, wait, there is a hint or two about freedom and destiny, but the movie doesn’t dolt on those boring subjects. They are only brought up so that the film can pretend to have depth. They are only really brought up so that we can get back to sex and dating again.

Sure, I’ll admit it. I laughed during this film. There were a few borderline slapstick moments when I chuckled, and a few moments when I actually belted out a laugh. I even walked out of the movie with a smile on my face, but..

It was obvious that this movie was created for its marketed demographic. The love line was immature at best, the situation the lovers ended up in were unrealistic and contrived, and at almost every moment in the film, I kept waiting for Mandy Moore to suddenly bloom or blossom. She doesn’t have the film presence that Hepburn did in the same role, and she doesn’t have the strength as an actress to play a more demanding role; at least not yet she doesn’t. She will need to step back from the curtain of her method acting classes and get a truer understanding of life and passion.

While we are talking about passion; this film has none. It is not in anyway romantic or sincere, but it was funny. It won’t completely bash this film, simply because it did make me laugh, but I think I could have spent my time and money more wisely.