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Chasing Liberty (Widescreen Edition)
Warner Bros. // PG-13 // May 4, 2004
List Price: $27.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
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The basic plot rattled off above is probably good enough, but I'll delve into a little more detail anyway. Chasing Liberty stars too-cute-for-words chanteuse-slash-thespian Mandy Moore as Anna Foster, the daughter of the President of the United States (who, incidentally, is played by Mark Harmon). After a seemingly innocuous date goes awry thanks to the dozens of Secret Service agents keeping an Eagle Eye on everyone within a quarter-mile radius of Anna, she insists that she be allowed to head off to the Berlin Love Parade by her lonesome. Her father scoffs, but he does agree that she can go to a concert in Prague accompanied by just two agents. By "two", he apparently meant "two hundred", and when Anna spots scores of sorely out-of-place concertgoers sporting earbuds, she storms off with the help of a stranger named Ben (Matthew Goode) and his conveniently located Vespa. Determined to make the trek to the Love Parade, Anna, with Ben in tow, trots all around Europe, hitting Venice and Vienna along the way. She falls for Ben, although he seems determined to keep the frequently nekkid Anna at arm's length. (Moore doesn't actually bare anything herself, for anyone whose toes curled at the prospect, although she does have a butt double for a skinnydipping scene.) Ben bears a secret that prevents him from getting too close, which causes a rift that he has a tough time sealing. Anna is also pursued by two Secret Service agents, Alan (Jeremy Piven) and Cynthia (Annabella Sciorra). Alan's approach to romance isn't particularly subtle and more than likely litigious, if Cynthia were to decide that was sexual harrassment and that she didn't have to take it. Golly, I wonder if any of these crazy kids will fall in love...
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If there's a cliché to mine, it's in here somewhere. There's the teen romance formula -- meet-cute, some sort of deception, preliminary squabbling, head over heels in love, deception discovered, heart-rending break-up, montage of warmed-over footage from earlier in the movie, inevitable reunion. It also offers up some of the standard road trip highlights, such as the lead characters having to fend for themselves after losing all their money. Although I'm well-aware that there are only so many basic premises floating around, Chasing Liberty doesn't have much aside from its stars or its European settings to set itself apart from the dozens of other vaguely similar romantic comedies littering store shelves. There aren't really any moments memorable enough to stick with me even just a couple of hours after watching it. Nothing exceptionally sweet, nothing exceptionally funny, nothing exceptionally dramatic...admittedly, nothing exceptionally awful, with the possible exception of some laughably bad slow-motion in the climax, but it's just a forgettable film. If not for my having to keep some details churning around in my head for the purpose of this review, every trace of Chasing Liberty would've already faded away. Though it's too ordinary a movie to recommend above much of anything else, Chasing Liberty is at least better than average as a DVD, offering a decent assortment of extras and a nice audio/video presentation.
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Audio: The Dolby Digital 5.1 track (448Kbps) focuses most of its energy front and center. The rest of the action around the 'stage comes courtesy of the obligatory Pop Hits™, including cuts by Rooney, Tom Petty, and, he says with a heavy sigh, Sean Paul. Even though there aren't a lot of effects in the movie that call for blatant stereo separation or extensive use of the surrounds, there's a lot of music which fills pretty much every possible gap. Although the LFE doesn't really bring attention to itself for the most part, when it comes time for Liberty aus Berlin...yikes. The thunderous, pounding, punishing bass roared from my sub with such a low-frequency thump that if the faint neon of some glowsticks were visible from a window in the living room, my neighbors would probably think some sort of sparsely-attended rave was underway. That climax aside, Chasing Liberty doesn't offer the most exciting six-channel audio I've ever heard, but it suits the material well, and I'm not left with any complaints.
Also present -- subtitles in English, French, and Spanish, closed captions, and a Quebecois-flavored French 5.1 dub, also encoded at 448Kbps.
Supplements: Two of the featured extras revolve around Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode. In the "Passport to Europe" featurette, the two stars spend a few minutes talking about some of the highlights of shooting on location in Venice, Berlin, Vienna, and Prague, pointing out some of the places they'd recommend Europe-bound viewers make it a point to hit.. The two of them also contribute an audio commentary. Moore has the following to say at one point: "I think our commentary's going to get bashed, Matthew. They're going to say that we were really boring to listen to. So, you know, for all of you reviewing this commentary right now, we don't care." Yup, that pretty much covers it. They just don't have very much to say. In between lengthy spaces of nothing in particular, they'll toss out praise for each other, the rest of the cast and crew, and the locations in Europe. They spend more time silently watching than movie than they do speaking about it. Every once in a while, you'll get a note like Mark Harmon wolfing down room-temperature sushi, gulping down fake booze, choosing a butt double from a set of Polaroids, running with an infected toe from a fallen suitcase in squashed shoes, or exposing white bellies, but...yeah. Really is kinda dull.
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Chasing Liberty is a Warner release, so it comes packaged in a snapper case, with its twenty-nine chapter stops listed on the internal flap. The disc includes a set of 16x9-enhanced animated menus, and the DVD opens with a letterboxed trailer for Love Don't Cost a Thing.
Conclusion: Chasing Liberty is instantly forgettable, not offering much aside from its likeable leads and stunning scenery to distinguish itself from the hordes of twee-romantic comedies. Worth a rental, but it's not something I'd shell out twenty bucks to add to my collection. Rent It.
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