STARS: ** �
DIRECTOR: Matt Williams
PRINCIPLE CAST:
Natalie Portman
Ashley Judd
Stockard Channing
James Frain
Dylan Bruno
TAGLINE: Discover where the emotion is... the friendship is... the laughter is...
To understand my rating of this film, you must first understand how I decided the stars. A ** � star film is usually a film that I actually, but I think could have been so much better if the effort was put in. In the film, Natalie Portman plays Novalee Nation, a sweet, pregnant teenager, abandoned at an Oklahoma Wal-Mart by her no-good boyfriend. After living in the Wal-Mart for about six weeks, Novalee gradually gets her life back together with the help of a few local yokels. Actually, it is not-so-gradually, and that is what I found wrong with this film. The film skips around far too much. First, we are given a scene. The next scene is six weeks later. The scene after that is five months later, then five years. The film tries to shove five years in the life of a girl into about two hours of film and that is a travesty. If the screenwriter would have taken the time to allow some pacing, this film could have been one of the best of the year. However, he doesn�t and it isn�t. Perhaps this is the way it was told in the novel (I have yet to read it), but it doesn�t translate well onto film.
With all this criticism, it would be a reasonable guess that I did not like this film, but it would be wrong. I enjoyed this film immensely. I would give this film a *** rating, but I am grading on quality and not necessarily taste. I thought everyone did a wonderful job portraying her or his characters. Natalie Portman gives an Oscar-worthy performance. This film has at least two things that should be given notice when awards time comes around: Natalie Portman and the song �That�s the Beat of the Heart.� Although, I think Stockard Channing does give a memorable performance and Ashley Judd was very enjoyable.
This film is quite enjoyable, and I do recommend it, but you must enjoy the certain type of film it is. It is a bit of a �chick-flick,� but honestly, I have nothing against �chick-flicks� if they are actually entertaining. This could have been a Lifetime network T.V.-movie, but with its wonderful performances and witty lines, I found this to be above that.
