Where The Heart Is - Moviebodega

WHERE THE HEART IS



Matt Williams

Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (based on the book by Billie Letts)

PG-13

Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing, Joan Cusack, Dylan Bruno, James Erain, and Sally Field

In any given week at the local cineplex, there is a wide assortment of great, good, bad, and really bad films. Rarely, however, does one get to see a genuine, bonafide disaster at the cinema. If you're in the mood to see just such a mess, head straight for Matt Williams' mushfest WHERE THE HEART IS. An emotionally overwrought tearjerker littered with rural, countrified stereotypes, its pitiful execution is only worsened by its complete waste of the many talented actresses in the cast.

Based on the bestselling book by Billie Letts, WHERE THE HEART IS is the first starring-on-her-own role for Natalie Portman, best known these days as Queen Amidala of STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE - THE PHANTOM MENACE. Portman is expected to carry this film, but she clearly lacks the effervescence and ability of other actresses who can open a film in Hollywood -- Roberts, Ryan, and Bullock. Portman may eventually become a major actress, but she belongs in the Sarandon/Streep school, where talent is prized and big box office draw is left to male action stars.

And this is definitely a women's picture. Her supporting cast includes newly-crowned A-lister Ashley Judd (DOUBLE JEOPARDY), Stockard Channing (SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION), Joan Cusack (ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES) and of all people, Sally Field in a cameo.

The story -- one that gives new meaning to the word "meandering" -- is that of Novalee Nation (Portman), a young, uneducated girl who speaks with a Southern/Midwestern redneck accent blend. Pregnant and dumped by her boyfriend (Dylan Bruno) at a Wal-Mart on the way to Las Vegas, she is penniless and completely alone in the world. With a limited number of options available to her, Novalee begins to surreptitiously live in the Wal-Mart at night. Her secret is out when she has her baby, however, and she becomes something of a cause celebre.

Into her life wander a great number of people, including Lexie Coop (Judd), a kindhearted nurse with five kids of her own; Sister Husband (Channing), a kindhearted nut who takes Novalee and her baby in; and Forney (James Erain), the local academic who lives in the town library with his mentally ill sister.

As if that's not enough aimless plotting, there's an entirely separate subplot, following her ex-boyfriend Willie (Bruno), as he heads for Las Vegas alone. He gets arrested, begins a recording career with a tyrannical agent, Ruth Meyers (Cusack), loses his career, and has a horrifying train accident. All of which has almost nothing to do with Novalee and her baby.

Screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel must have been completely stupified by Betts' novel; their adaptation jumps tracks, shifts gears, and changes direction so many times that nothing seems genuine or honestly motivated. A freak hurricane occurs halfway through the film, leaving existing plotlines unfinished and necessitating brand new ones. Sally Field, as Novalee's white-trash mother, drops by in one unnecessary scene for about three minutes, only to vanish for the remainder of the film. When the shiftless, amoral Willie suddenly develops a conscience in the film's final minutes, eye-rolling audiences will have to fight the overwhelming impulse to bolt from the theatre in frustration.

Frantically looking for bright spots in this abyss, Ashley Judd clearly gives the best performance of the ensemble. Although a domestic violence plotline appears from left field, she handles it and all other inconsistencies like an assured professional. Judd is a star in the making; even her work in this maudlin, melodramatic mess confirms that.

The same cannot be said of Portman, however. Although she has made impressions in films where she had talented co-stars (ANYWHERE BUT HERE), she is only as good as the person she's working with. Even in WHERE THE HEART IS, it's evident -- her scenes with Channing and Judd are solid, while her work with Bruno is community-theatre shaky.

WHERE THE HEART IS will have you checking your watch twenty minutes in. It's a sad state of affairs; like being a bystander at a traffic accident, watching it is a head-shaking, depressing experience. Save your ticket admission for the far superior ERIN BROCKOVICH.

Gabriel Shanks - moviebodega@mindspring.com

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