When you take the time to watch a Mandy Moore movie, you know what you are getting yourself into, or at least you should know. Mandy Moore has become a staple in movies of girls who are trying to break free of the shadow of their father, and live the life that she wants too. Her latest trot down this road is Chasing Liberty which came out at the beginning on 2004. That is not to say that she has not become a master of the stereotypical role, because she plays it quite well, I am just pointing out that she is risking pigeon-holing herself in that regards. Her first leading role came in A Walk To Remember back in 2002, and this film marks her third venture as a teen struggling to get past issues with her parents.

While this movie follows the formula that I described, it would be unfair for me to say that the movie simply stops at that point. In Chasing Liberty, Mandy Moore plays Anna Foster, a girl who has not had the best of luck with guys, and seems to run into problems every time she attempts to go out with one. Its not that the guys are ruining the dates, or that they are not good enough for her. The problem comes from her father being the President of the United States. Not only that, but prior to the 6 years that she has lived in the White House, she live 8 years as the daughter of a state Governor. To put it mildly, she has led a sheltered life.

Being the daughter of the President, your life is not afforded the same liberties as that of a normal teenager. The problem is that there is always a risk for your well-being, and the Secret Service must keep constant surveillance to make sure that no type of kidnapping or hostage situation develops that involves the President's daughter. Such an even would cause undue stress on the man with one hand on the "button." For those fans of The West Wing , you have seen what Martin Sheen had to go through in his role as the President. So, with the case being that safety is of utmost concern when it comes to any of the President's children, they lose freedoms that us average Americans would take for granted. There was a line that stuck out in the movie that I liked: "The daughter of the leader of the FREE world, isn't even free." The irony there is too thick to get into, so I will get back to reviewing the movie.

Because of the situations that present themselves when you are being chaperoned on every date by armed guards, Liberty realizes that the only way she is going to lead a semi-normal dating life is if she can have freedom in these instances. So, she strikes up a deal with her father, so that she can go out to a concert with her friend, and only take 2 personal guards, who will not interfere with her having fun. Liberty and her friend are having a great time, when she suddenly realizes that the concert hall is crawling with armed Secret Service Agents. This angers her to no end, and she decides to run for it. The entire Presidential family is in Europe doing a public relations tour, and her Father decides that if Freedom is what his daughter wants that that is what he will give her?. But at a price. He orders one of the secret service agents who has been posing as a "new friend" at the concert to stick with her on her trek across Europe, but to never reveal who he is, or why he is doing it.

The new secret service agent (and friend in disguise), is played by Matthew Goode. Other than this, he is a newcomer to the movies as well, and does a great job in his first big role. There were times when I thought he over-acted his part, but on the whole I liked him and the way he portrayed the "undercover" Secret Service agent. Trailing the pair across Europe is a team of two other Secret Service agents who have been on the Presidents daughter?s detail for quite some time, and have been given the task of tracking down her and Grant. Those two agents are played by Jeremy Piven and Annabella Sciorra.

Piven made it big as a supporting actor in movies like Judgment Night and PCU, and he also starred in the television series Ellen. Sciorra is of course the wife from What Dreams May Come , where she plays a strong role opposite of Robin Williams. Both are great in their roles, and it is fun to watch the banter that goes on between the two of them for the duration of the film. I thought that they were good enough to even hold their own in a buddy moving just starring the two of them after watching it.

The President is played by Mark Harmon, who lately has only been doing made-for-television movies, but whom I am glad to see back in movies. He does the role of the President very well, and when it comes to acting as an inept President who only seems to want to do what is best for his daughter, he also shines. The only part of the movie I did not like were the interactions of Moore and Harmon in scenes where they had to exchange conversations. There chemistry just did not seem to exist, and I never felt as if there was a true father-daughter relationship going on there. This served as only a small detractor to me though, because Harmon does not have that big of a role in the picture, rather Moore runs this vehicle.

On the whole, this movie was worth watching. I liked the story, and there were subtle romantic twists and turns that made the movie move along at a steady pace. There were no times where I was sitting there just hoping the scene would end. Instead, I felt myself rooting on the under-cover agent to do certain things to win the affections of Moore. Did he accomplish this? Did she find out about his lie? To find that out, you have to see the movie. I highly recommend this one as something you should rent, and sit down with someone "special" to watch it with. It is the type of movie that is far-fetched in premise, but when you start thinking about it in terms of the characters, you find yourself caring about what is going to happen to them next.




Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie