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Chasing Liberty starring Matthew Goode, Mandy Moore, Jeremy Piven & Annabella Sciorra

Posted on October 28, 2010 Written by ripitup

Chasing Liberty starring Matthew Goode, Mandy Moore, Mark Harmon, Jeremy Piven, Annabella Sciorra and Caroline Goodall.

This one could have been so much more fun if it hadn’t been chasing a ridiculous soundtrack and well, cheesy dialogue.

I mean I know most romcoms are cheesy but this tends to overdo itself. Nevertheless, I can think of worse things (for a girl) than sitting at home and watching a Matthew Goode movie where he gets to ne ridiculously romantic and all that. There is also some really fun scenes and great locations.

Here’s the movie’s deal:

Anna Foster (Mandy Moore) is the First Daughter. She is 18 and it is impossible for her to enjoy a romantic and private date out with a boy she likes because there are agents everywhere watching and following her. Her last date goes awry again and she decides that she can get a taste of the normal teenage life in Prague, where she will be traveling with her parents. She even convinces her dad (Mark Harmon) to assign only two agents: Weiss. and Morales (Jeremy Piven and Annabella Sciorra). She goes out with her friend Gabrielle (Beatrice Rosen), only to realize that Secret Service are again everywhere. So to punish her dad and prove her point, she gets on the motorcycle of the handsome English guy – Ben (Matthew Goode). Ben helps her ditch the agents Anna can’t believe her luck- she is free in Prague, hanging with a cute guy. Unbeknownst to Anna, however, Ben is also an agent. When her father learns that she ditched the others, he tells Ben to look after Anna, staying undercover. After all, he is sure Anna will come running very soon.

But Anna has other plans, including attending the Love Parade in Berlin. Ben does his best to try to keep her out of trouble but of course Anna is far too naive, pig-headed and optimistic to be safe. There is also the fact she is making it clear she wants him. What is a secret agent to do, especially when he wants her too?

Fun premise, beautiful locations. We get to see Berlin, Venice, Prague, London…I really like Jeremy Piven’s character. He is simply too funny to resist and the sub-plot involves him trying to get Morales to like him.

The movie is only enemy is that it tries too hard to be romantic and it could have been just more fun and genuinely romantic, had they not exaggerated too many things on Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode’s sides. If you want Mandy Moore be subtler (and she can), watch Dedication. If you want a non-cheesy, genuinely sweet and naturally romantic film, watch Before Sunrise.

But even though it has too many flaws, Chasing Liberty follows a fun fantasy. Forget about being the president’s daughter, it is just so fun running off in Europe with a hot stranger no matter how old you are. Still, I’d like the movie more if Anna’s character hadn’t been so stupid in general…

Co-starring is Caroline Goodall as Anna’s mother.

Fun note: Matthew Goode’s 2010 romantic comedy Leap Year also has the leading female called Anna.

Favorite Lines/Scenes

Anna Foster: Dad! Way to go. I can’t believe you had that restaurant swarming with all of your secret servants. You ruined my date! And now, I’m going to die before I ever get to third base… I mean second base.
[Anna turns to see others in room]
President James Foster: Anna?
Anna Foster: I’ll talk to you about this later.
President James Foster: No, no. Stay. Pull up a chair. We were just discussing the G8 Summit in Prague, how to best persuade the EU leaders to adopt our plan for distributing humanitarian aid and medical technology to developing nations, but you had a bad date, so we should probably focus on that.
Anna Foster: No, no, no, I’m so sorry to have interrupted. Excuse me.
[Anna leaves]
President James Foster: So third base is what again?
[indistinct mumbling]
President James Foster: Glad I asked.

***

Anna Foster: I want to swim naked in the Danube!
Ben Calder: Actually, it’s the Vltava.
Anna Foster: Who wants to swim naked in the Vltava? Nobody says that.
Ben Calder: Because in English,Vltava means ‘unhealthy bacteria level’.
Anna Foster: Yeah, right.
Ben Calder: Why can’t you be free without being naked?

***

Ben Calder: [to Anna] Can you please stop taking your clothes off around me?

Other Matthew Goode Movies

Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris, Diane Kruger and Matthew Goode

Watchmen starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman & Matthew Goode

Leap Year starring Matthew Goode and Amy Adams

Other Posts feat. Mandy Moore

Nicholas Sparks vs. Happy endings. feat. A Walk to Remember starring Moore

Leap Year starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode

Posted on October 24, 2010 Written by ripitup

Leap Year starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode

American Anna (Amy Adams) has a profitable career in “staging homes” for the real estate agents and she is really good at it. She’s also in a 4-year relationship with her cardiologist boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott). They are candidates to live in her dream apartment so things just seem perfect.

However when Jeremy fails to propose at the expected moment, Anna gets inspired by the idea she gets from her loving but unreliable father (John Lithgow): she’ll honor the Irish Leap Year tradition and will go to Dublin- where Jeremy will be attending a medical conference- and propose to him.

But awful weather conditions land her in a remote town in Ireland, where she will need to persuade the unwilling bartender/motel owner Declan (Matthew Goode) –who of course is young and really attractive in a scruffy way.

Monetary issues for Declan to drive her. But everything that can go wrong on the way does-including a growing attraction between the two seemingly opposite strangers.

Is there a chance that Declan is the one instead of Jeremy? And can they figure out they feelings until it is time to part in Dublin?

I know the three words you’re thinking: typical romantic comedy. And you are right. I am not saying to bash the movie, it is a fact. However it is a perfectly enjoyable experience for those in the target audience- romantic (mostly)females who love a good romcom escapism (which I am a part of) it.

It also helps it when you like the leads and I really enjoy watching both Amy Adams and Matthew Goode.

Yeah, it is full of clichés and it is highly unbelievable that they can fall for each other in a couple of days and decide to pursue it. But then again, it is precisely for these clichés that we watch romcoms. And frankly Declan, to me, is the perfect fantasy male. He is ruggedly good-looking, has a good sense of humor, isn’t materialistic and is actually really romantic. And Irish countryside is always a plus (for watching in the films).

Yes, there are no surprises in this film. It is simple, ordinary and entirely predictable. But it is also a good genre example. Watch it if you are not allergic to romcoms. I had fun. My only complaint is that John Lithgow has such a small role.

Other Matthew Goode Movies

Watchmen starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman and Matthew Goode

The Lookout starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Goode and Jeff Daniels

Other Amy Adams Movies

Enchanted starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day starring Amy Adams, Frances McDormand and Lee Pace

Monster in Law starring Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda and Michael Vartan

Posted on September 14, 2010 Written by ripitup

Monster in Law starring Jane Fonda, Jennifer Lopez and Michael Vartan. Written by Anya Kochoff. Directed by Robert Luketic, director of The Ugly Truth. 2005.

Charlie (Jennifer Lopez) is a young woman who works at temp jobs and walks dogs for a living. One day on a beach, she runs into the handsome doctor Kevin (Michael Vartan). Soon they start dating and they are the perfect couple: the relationship is easy, passionate, loving and fun…until Kevin takes Charlie to meet his recently-fired, famous TV personality mother Viola (Jane Fonda). Viola is depressed, neurotic and totally driving her P.A/best friend Ruby (Wanda Sykes) insane. Kevin, unintentionally, kills the chance of a good relationship between his mother and his girlfriend when he asks Charlie to marry her at their first visit. From then on, Viola decides that Charlie is absolutely the wrong girl for her son so she turns into the future mother-in-law from hell. The idea is to show her evil side to Charlie and make her run.

From then on, the “typical” romantic comedy turns more into a fun comedy. It is no longer about two people finding love and getting together but the monster-in-law’s psychotic plans to break them up.

Now, I am not saying this movie is without clichés, in fact it has many. But this is not your typical romantic comedy either. Finding your “soulmate” part is especially cut short so that we have more time for Jane Fonda’s hilarious act. And what makes it so annoying and ridiculous at parts comes from the fact that unfortunately mother-in-laws like that do exist. My father’s mom was pretty much the only problem my parents had during their marriage. The moment my mom stopped contact with her, the marriage was saved.

While avoiding this film won’t exactly make you miss much, watching it can entertain you a great deal if you let it. And while girls can cross their fingers to meet a guy like Kevin, they sure as hell should remember to wish his mother isn’t like Viola. Sure, for the sake of being a (romantic) comedy, things do end well but…in real life, she sure would keep up the witch bitch act for good.

One of my favorite lines:

Viola (Jane Fonda): Have you got anything on the girl yet?

Ruby (Wanda Sykes): Nothing. No criminal record, no death….

Viola: What about drugs? What about promiscuity?

Ruby: She did fewer lovers in her life than you had on the closing day of Woodstock!

Other Posts on Michael Vartan

Alias starring Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan and Bradley Cooper

Never Been Kissed starring Drew Barrymore, Michael Vartan and David Arquette

Green Card starring Gerard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell

Posted on September 5, 2010 Written by ripitup

Green Card starring Andie MacDowell and Gerard Depardieu. Written and directed by Peter Weir. 1990.

George (Gerard Depardieu) is a French man wanting to stay in the States. Bronte (Andie MacDowell) is a horticulturist, who has just found her dream apartment: a roof floor with its own greenhouse. Through a mutual friend, they make a deal. George and Bronte meet, get married and go their separate ways. What they don’t know is that the number of people trying to “trick” the government for green cards has increased a lot and the immigration officers are being strict. So they realize that if they want to get what they want, they need to spend time with each other, live in Bronte’s house and learn as much as they can about each other. While George isn’t having problems hanging in Bronte’s flat, Bronte is about to have a fit. She has to lie to her friends, parents, boyfriend and to the apartment’s board. Moreover, she needs to handle George’s differences, as they couldn’t have been more opposite. George loves to eat, express his thoughts openly, loves passion, hasn’t been formally educated and is a slob. Bronte is more introverted, loves “nice guys”, has been to college, seems to love plants more than people and loves things to be in order.

But as time passes and they get on each other’s nerves, they also begin to be attracted to each other Can they finally realize they might be falling for each other? And even if they do, can they convince the officers that they are a real couple?

Green Card is a very lovely romantic comedy/drama from 1990, written and directed by Australian director Peter Weir (Gallipoli, Fearless, Master and Commander, The Year of Living Dangerously, The Truman Show).The movie is more fun than funny. It is emotional and romantic. Somehow, even though it carries some typical romantic comedy elements, everything in this film flows so naturally. It is perfect that George is not your typical heartthrob but he is so lovable, and that Bronte doesn’t spend the movie walking in sexy clothes or being perfectly made-up and immaculately dressed when she is at home. The dialogue and interactions are just lovely. Keep in mind, this movie won’t go out of its way to try and make you laugh. It tries, and succeeds in making you smile a lot. And before calling it a chick flick, do consider the fact that the writer/director is a heterosexual male.

Rated 6.0 on IMDB. I think it is too charming and real to be just a 6. Let me know what you think.

Fun note: Director Peter Weir was nominated for Best Original Screenplay with this movie.

Recommended (Similar) Movies:

French Kiss starring Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan

The Proposal starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds