Adele August (Susan Sarandon) is the flighty mother to exasperated 14 year old Ann (Natalie Portman). Ann actually like her stepfather Ted but Adele leaves her boring husband in Wisconsin for the bright sunshine of Beverly Hills. Adele gets a job at a rundown school and spends their money frivolously. Ann can't wait to leave her mother. There's also a cop who has two pivotal scenes where he comes in with just the right advice.Sarandon is playing a manic mother character. Portman is lovely and a frustrated teenager. These are good building blocks for some family drama. However the movie doesn't really build anything compelling with these amazing pieces. The plot, it there is one, is a random series of aimless snippets. Their story goes nowhere for a long stretches of this movie. It's the same situation over and over again. Nevertheless, there are those two beautiful building blocks at the end of the day. It probably needs a third and some dramatic construction.

This movie has surprised me in so many good ways that I feel just awkward after I realized how unknown this is. Adele and Ann have an unique mother-and-daughter relationship-- by the way, which family doesn't? Whilst the mother is optimist, adventurer and spontaneous, the daughter is pessimist, grouchy and never tries to be agreeable with her mother. Having that in mind, you can imagine how many arguments there must be in the whole story-- most of them caused by the irritating daughter, in my point of view. There is a lot for spectator to understand with this kind of film; people are different, and when you have a kid, you should know that occasionally he will pursuit his own conceptions and dreams. However, the movie also shows that if you are the kid, you should reflect on whether you're possibly abandoning the one who helped you grew up for a long time. In my opinion, Ann acted a little selfish in most of the bad situations they faced, while Adele always thought about Ann's well-being before her own, which is beautiful-- and REAL, since that's what most parents do. "Anywhere But Here" gives us this sensible story filled out with good professionals, with big congratulations for director and the whole cast, who did their best to make this film THIS good! PS: I wanted Ann to drop dead for the whole time, which probably is a sign that I'm not ready to become a father yet.

This film is about a single mother who is happy go lucky to the point that she is almost irresponsible, and her sensible teenage daughter who is undergoing adolescent turmoils."Anywhere But Here" is an engaging film from beginning to the end. Both Ann and Adele are described well right at the start, so we get to know how different their personalities are. Clashes inevitably ensue, and they are engagingly presented. I find myself so drawn to their state of minds and their circumstances. it is as if I am living their lives, feeling what they are feeling.Susan Sarandon gives another excellent performance in "Anywhere But Here". She is charismatic, happy go lucky, hedonistic, warm and loving all at once. I have always liked Susan Sarandon, and I think she is grossly underrated."Anywhere But Here" is a captivating emotional journey.

Talented screenwriter Alvin Sargent sadly cannot get any engaging ideas cooking in this artificial trifle about a wayward mother and her mature teenage daughter trying to make their lives work in Los Angeles despite mom's flighty behavior. Apart from several good sequences, I didn't quite buy Susan Sarandon as a flake (she's too intrinsically smart and focused to be passed off as this devil-may-care lady), and her naturally grounded personality is a bad fit for the role of an irresponsible parent. Natalie Portman fares much better as her kid, and yet there's a creepy aloofness to her work (and some of her scenes, such as the one where she asks a boy to strip, are misguided and uncomfortable to watch). Certainly not an incompetent piece, "Anywhere But Here" does have moments that work, but it isn't an embraceable film, nor has it proved to be an important one. ** from ****