Chasing Liberty (2004)

Directed by: Andy Cadiff | 111 minutes | comedy, romance | Actors: Mandy Moore, Matthew Goode, Jeremy Piven, Anabella Sciorra, Caroline Goodall, Mark Harmon, Stark Sands, Sam Ellis

Until now, director Andy Cadiff has mainly done TV work in American series. He makes his directorial debut on the silver screen with the romantic comedy ‘Chasing Liberty’. The lead role is played by the nineteen-year-old pop singer Mandy Moore (in the role of Anna Foster). She is known in the US as a rising star and popular teen idol. Like any self-respecting pop star, she had to be in a movie once in a while. Her co-star Matthew Goode is also fairly fresh on the silver screen, although he has already proven himself as a creditable actor in English theatres. Together they have to carry this film, the other players actually figure a bit around it.

‘Chasing Liberty’ is of course a romantic story, but probably only for children and teenagers. They can marvel at the glamor of the life of a daughter of the president and empathize with the desire to wrestle from your parents and embark on the path of love themselves. The colorful staging of the story should be able to help with that; Anna Foster lives in the White House where she lives like a princess. When traveling in Europe we see the beautiful pictures of Prague and Venice and the actors are of the “young and handsome” type. When Anna Foster and Ben Calder flee together from the gasping security agents, they all go through crazy yet harmless things and slowly they fall in love. Very nice everyone. But also a bit ordinary and boring. The images of Europe in the film have been plucked straight from the tourist brochures and things really don’t want to be heated between the two lovers. You don’t understand what the best boy in the girl sees; it’s just a whiny spoiled brat. So the romance just doesn’t really come into its own convincingly.

The comedy then? There are a few weird supporting roles in the film of crazy Europeans who talk strangely and sometimes the ridiculous situations with the army of security agents want to make the corners of their mouths and toes curl, but that’s it. ‘Chasing Liberty’ is actually well suited for rainy summer days, you are off the street for a while and then you forget the movie again.