Where the Heart Is

Rating:
Summary: ... and it's in the right place
Review: I loved this movie. It was so down-to-earth, so seemingly real. (Even if it is very hard to believe that Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd are typical trailer trash.) From start to finish it was a great story, and of course, it produced a few tears to the eye.

This is by no means a fast-paced action packed movie. Instead it lulls you into a sense of belonging as you watch the emotions and events played out slowly before you. If you're like me you'll love every character that you get to know. In a way, it's like reading a book: a more intimate experience than your average movie. (And I'm going to read the book!) This is the kind of movie you'd like to watch once every few years, just to remind yourself to smile and to have hope. Okay, okay, it's a chick flick through and through, but they are the best type!!

And I wanted to become a photographer even more than usual as I watched Novalee's passion for her camera grow and develop (excuse the pun) as she gained confidence in herself.

I guess I'll have to rank Portman up there with Claire Danes when it comes to weepy, slow-moving stories about realistic young lives!

Rating:
Summary: "Home is where they catch you when you fall."
Review: That sentence is one of Sister's first to Novalee Nation, but it is the resounding theme throughout. This movie is a touching story about a girl leaving home to go to California. When her boyfriend ditches her in a small town though, she finds her real home.

Powerful acted (a really great star-studded cast) and wonderfully written, it is a must see movie. It is touching yet, eventful and a really wonderful movie that shows how, despite all odds, life and love, triumph.

Rating:
Summary: Where the fun is
Review: "Where The Heart Is" is as good as the book. I highly recommend DVD version. It's got a music video, etc. Cool!

Rating:
Summary: the best movie for a long time!!
Review: this movie is the best movie! it teaches tremendous life lessons for young girls to learn such as waiting untill you are married to have a baby, to not go for just any man but to pick the right one for you, and perserverance. this is a great movie that i think many teenagers would love. Natilie Portman and Ashley Judd are the best!!

Rating:
Summary: Sugary sweet outside, slightly bitter on the inside
Review: As someone who cringes at films hailed as "Heartwarming!", I initially shied away from this picture, but on a particularly bad day, I needed some cheering up so I rented it, and was pleasantly surprised that my mood changed. However, when I started to think about this film a little more in depth, I realized it isn't just a lighthearted piece of fluff about the misadventures of an uneducated, naive girl who happens upon some damn good luck in her life. "Where the Heart Is" attempts to tackle some very serious issues, such as teen pregnancy, absent fathers, mental illness, and child abuse. Yet like the rest of the story, and most of the characters, it barely skims the surface, just touching on them before glossing it over with a layer of sweetness and light. Perhaps that's why it lifted my spirits: it never got bogged down with the serious issues, and continued blithely along with Novalee and Americus, her cute little girl with the horrid name.

"Where the Heart Is" is first and foremost a fairy tale. Rarely does a teenage mother without the support of a husband/boyfriend/girlfried/what-have-you experience the good fortune of meeting compassionate individuals offering food, shelter, and means to an income, as well as the veritable knight in a stocking cap, who not only manages to deliver the baby, but falls in love with her as well. While the film optimistically shows that good things can result from a seemingly hopeless situation, it should still be taken with a grain of salt. It is, after all, Hollywood, dressed up (or down) to look like middle America.

Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: I thought this movie was wonderful. Portman played one of the best parts that I have see her in. Judd was really good too. And Forny was just so cute. The actors made the movie. I would tell and of my friends to go and see it. Wonderful ending.

Rating:
Summary: Utter Trash, But Good Acting
Review: This movie is about poor white trash. The men are all alley cats and the women all have round heels and sleep with men with about as much forethought as normal people brush their teeth. And they get pregnant about as easily. This is a woman's movie, so the focus is on the women, whose stupid, irresponsible behavior practically had me screaming at the TV set. I have known a lot of women (and men) like this. It's not funny, it's not a joke, and most of them have very severe substance abuse problems (and socialization problems) to go with their "cute" inability to control their "reproductive" urges. People like this cause incalculable damage to their children. I have seen it, many times.

However, aside form the fact that the movie is totally unrealistic, it's an episodic tear jerker for women, so, let it be. It has a happy ending, even though that too is utterly unrealistic. Only in a movie like this would the main character's ability to say "I Love You" is supposed to have some kind of cosmic significance.

While the movie is basically a sympathetic portrayal of utterly unsympathetic people, the acting is very, very good. Natalie Portman is actually quite believable as a dumb, barefoot, Tennessee gal with low self-esteem. That's meant as praise to her skills. Ashley Judd are Stockard Channing are both good, too. The bit about "fives" was stupid, as was the constant prayers about fornicating at the kitchen table.

If you want a movie that affirms that love conquers all, you'll like this. For example, I watched it with my wife and daughters and they loved it. I was left scratching my head at that. Just don't take it seriously, or you will get very angry.

Rating:
Summary: Portman and Judd light up the screen in Where the Heart Is..
Review: Natalie Portman shines as the ever-so gorgeous and lovable girl in the trailer next door Novalee Nation, who while on her way to California(They ought to call it Prickifornia) finds herself abandoned bare-foot and pregnant by her white trash boyfriend in a Wal-mart in Oklahoma. Having no place to stay, she decides to stay illegally in the Wal-mart at night and sneak out during the day to explore the town. After delivering her baby in the Wal-mart and gaining 14 minutes of fame she makes best friends with a local nurse Alexi(Judd) whose favorite pasttime is getting knocked up. Living with Sister Thelma Husband she continues to work at Walmart and tries her best to raise her daughter Americus(the Walmart baby)right. A charming coming of age story that propells Portman as a leading lady and gets the message across, that Home is Where the Heart Is.

Rating:
Summary: Heart of a Home
Review: I believe that this movie gives us the ups and downs of life, without which we would not become who we are. The main character, Novalee Nation, as a teenager stands for a noble child not ruined in virtue, even though she is left to fend for herself. She accepts the help of others not totally morally adept, but nonetheless she accepts them as they accept her. The love interest, Forney, is just the man she needs-kind, loyal and caring of the baby girl, who eventually gains a strong, resilient name. I must admit I was a sucker for this romance story. Now I eagerly want to read any related story to the movie!

Rating:
Summary: Different from the book, but still a charming flick!
Review: "Where the Heart Is" is one hell of a movie; that's all I can say about it. Most critics did not care for the storyline's tendency to jump in between plotlines numerous times, but I found it very easy to follow, and very humorous and heartfelt as well. The acting talent for the movie is superb, the best I've seen in a film like this. And the story will have you have you laughing and leave you touched.

Novalee Nation is about to embark on another journey, this one being with her boyfriend, who is also the father of her baby. She has never really had a family life, and her willingness to create a family for her unborn child blinds her to the mistreatment of her boyfriend. While on the road, they stop at a Wal-Mart so she can use the bathroom and buy a new pair of shoes. When she comes out, her boyfriend is gone, and she is left with nothing but a pair of shoes, the change from her purchase, and her Polaroid camera. Stuck without a place to go, she hides out in the Wal-Mart, living there during the night and keeping a journal of the things she uses so she can pay back the store. She begins meeting the people around town, one being Sister Husband, who immediately takes a liking to Novalee and her unborn child. Novalee also meets Forney, the local librarian who also cares for his insane ill sister. That same nigh, Novalee gives birth to her baby, and becomes famed for giving birth to the "Wal-Mart Baby." While in the hospital, she meets up with Lexie, who has four of her own children. Novalee soon finds security amongst her new friends, and learns that life is what you make it out to be.

Not having read the novel by Billie Letts on which the movie is based, I cannot make an honest comparison of the two. But I feel that the movie is terrific still, regardless of its differences from the book. The story does take a lot of little twists and turns, but they're not so big that you need to pay so much attention to them in order to grasp the changes at hand going on in Novalee's life. The way in which everything falls into place is very touching and heartfelt, especially in the beginning third of the film. The audience truly feels sorry for Novalee as she is left alone at the Wal-Mart to fend for herself.

The cast of this movie shines like a lantern on a foggy night. There has never been a better ensemble of actors to play such emotional characters in any movie I've ever seen. Natalie Portman makes a huge splash as Novalee, and her sweet sense of manners and Southern lilt all work in conveying her charming nature. Ashley Judd is a riot as Lexie, and while this is a totally different and new role for Judd to be playing, she walks into it like it is natural to her. Stockark Channing is a smash as Sister Husband, the woman who takes Novalee into her home. The way in which she plays out her character is genuinely superb, and I can't think of anyone else who could pull it off.

While this is mostly going to appeal to fans of the novel and women, "Where the Heart Is" is a charming and delightful slice of comedy that is touching, very heartfelt, and gives us a sense of homeliness.