Anywhere But Here . Tucson Weekly . 11-22-99

Anywhere But Here

DIRECTED BY: Wayne Wang

REVIEWED: 11-22-99

I expected the worst from this gal pal film starring Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman, but I was dead wrong. The story artfully condenses the bestselling 1986 novel by Mona Simpson into a funny, ultimately uplifting screenplay about an eccentric small-town mom who packs her unwilling 14-year-old daughter into a used Mercedes and lights out for Beverly Hills. ("So I could be a child actor while I was still a child," intones Portman as narrator.) Director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club, Smoke) helps Sarandon's over-the-top character achieve the perfect balance between deplorable and forgivable; and Portman is a convincing teenager, prematurely mature in her mortification and awe of her crazy mom. Their flawless performances capture the complicated and conflicting emotions of loving someone you hate, and the dialogue is mostly a delight.

--Mari Wadsworth

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Anywhere But Here
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