This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Liberty on the Loose,
Secret Service in the Dog House
Plot Overview
For eight years in the governor's
mansion, the gov's family grew used to public exposure. When he was
elected pres for his first term six years ago, his adoring 12-year-old
daughter Anna wouldn't dance with anyone else but him at
his inaugural ball. Now at eighteen First Daughter Anna
“Liberty” Foster (Mandy Moore) has switched her
priorities to boys whom she is starting to date, but her Secret
Service detail is seriously cramping her style. She has it out with
her father, President James Foster (Mark Harmon,) who agrees to
limit the detail to two discreet agents when she does the town with
her friend, the French ambassador's daughter, Gabrielle
La Clare (Beatrice Rosen) at the G8 Conference in Prague.
There at an agent-dense club she exchanges clothes—she's
already darkened her hair—in the loo with a local lusty and
emerges unrecognizable in grunge. Once out the door she taps a
random dude sitting tall in the saddle to give her a ride on his
moped ahead of the commotion behind them.
Ben Calder (Matthew Goode) was born
in Wales. His father a CIA asset died in the line of duty nineteen
years ago, and he's been raised by his British grandmother.
His father being away from home a lot would have left them a phone
number to contact him. Ben does “this and that” for
“different governments” and doesn't care to talk
about it. Now at age 23 he's on holiday in Prague to indulge his
passion for photography. While he's hanging out one evening
outside a night club a distraught woman emerges and begs a
ride out of there. With his photographer's eye, he may well
have recognized Anna, but he plays his cards close to his chest,
making cryptic phone calls as he like a good Boy Scout escorts
“Mrs. Bond” by and by to her train. When he gets
on it with her, though, Anna surmises he has “a thing”
for her.
Ideology
Commenting on the opera Anna says, “Rigoletta is my
favorite. I can totally relate. Gilda, you know, cloistered and
love-starved in a nunnery.” Once free from monitors Anna goes native.
Anna Foster: “I want to swim naked in the Danube!” Ben Calder: “Actually, it's the Vltava.” Anna Foster: “Who wants to swim naked in the Vltava? Nobody says that.” Ben Calder: “Because in English, Vltava means ‘unhealthy bacteria level’.” Anna Foster: “Yeah, right.” Ben Calder: “Why can't you be free without being naked?”Setting her transformation in Prague seems to be deliberate per a filmmaker trope. In Randall M. Miller's book on how Hollywood views ethnic groups, he writes that Slavs are not like Jews interacting with the public in their shops, but they are often employed in-house as servants, thus out of the public's view resulting in unfamiliarity. In the public's ignorance they're perceived as coarse and oversexed. He writes:
Slavs are … Russians, Poles, or what not—Slavs were not as conspicuous as other immigrant groups because their work and settlement patterns were significantly different.—
Slavic women, too, had low visibility. Domestic service (cleaning) and keeping lodgers and boarders were their most popular forms of work.
The most popular Slavik image was that of the “peasant” … and, like animals, were super-fecund, with “a rather gross attitude towards sexual morality” (136–139.)
Anna came from a good home. Her parents loved each other and didn't
let affairs of state interfere with their intimate time together.
(Song 8:6) “Set me as a
seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong
as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are
coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.”
(Song of Solomon 8:7)
“Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the
substance of his house for love, it would utterly be
contemned.” Secret Service agents Alan Weiss (Jeremy Piven)
and Cynthia Morales (Annabella Sciorra) assigned to Liberty
started a loving relationship once Weiss got a better haircut.
(Song 8:8-9) “We have a
little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our
sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? If she be a wall,
we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we
will inclose her with boards of cedar.” The young ladies
should be treated differently according to their individual virtues
once they begin courting. If she repels (“If she be a
wall”) a fellow's unwarranted advances, she should be honored
(“we will build upon her a palace of silver.”) But if
she is open to them (“if she be a door,”) then
(“we will inclose her with boards of cedar”) she should
be protected. Morales asks Weiss:
He meekly replies, “A couple.”Do you actually get women like this? I was really curious if there were actually women out there in the world who walk by the construction lunch break which is your very personality and say: “Oh, yeah, please. Baby, give it to me. Give me some of that hard hat, right here, right now.” There are actually women like that?
Anna was an open door (“I'm easy”) with the guys,
practicing (“Of course, you can kiss me”) on letting
them kiss her at the end of her date, then complaining to her dad
about the agents' disruption, “You ruined my date! And now,
I'm going to die before I ever get to third base … I mean
second base,” and when circumstances conspire to have her
share a bedroom with Ben, being tagged out as she slides into home
(“I was just messing around with you last night. I never
would have gone through with it.”)
(Song 8:10)
“I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his
eyes as one that found favour.” Anna's “wild
friend” Gabrielle was all bluster and no muster. She was so
entrenched in her diplomatic upbringing that she could never have
violated proper sexual protocol, her loose talk
notwithstanding. The guys at the (“It's an
orgy”) Love Parade instinctively regarded her as an ice
princess. She got no offers. Ben & Anna's acquaintance
Scotty McGruff (Martin Hancock) whom they'd met on the train
treated her like a lady though he'd made a crude advance towards
Anna earlier. He had to be vouched for before Gabrielle would
converse with him, so the 500,000 cute guys there didn't stand a
chance. First Lady Michelle Foster (Caroline Goodall) thought she
was a “nice girl.”
The
plot helicopters ahead to Anna about to come home from college on
Christmas break. Agents Weiss & Morales are observing her in
the library as Morales thumbs through a copy of
“Brides” magazine while they discuss potential new
partners—the service doesn't allow married couples to partner
up together. How they got to that stage, we're not shown. Just as
well. As author Friedrich Dürrenmatt has it,
“‘Writers have never liked policemen’. …
‘He's observing us,’ they both thought. ‘If we
don't watch out, we'll end up in a book.’” (57). As far
as endings go, it's happier, I suppose, to have a professional
liaison turn into romance than vice versa.
Production Values
“” (2004) was directed by Andy Cadiff. It was written by Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman. It stars Mandy Moore, Mark Harmon, Jeremy Piven, Annabelle Scioorra, and Caroline Goodall. A lot was expected of Mandy Moore playing the First Daughter, and she delivered. She was fluent in several European languages, which stood her well on her road trip. For all that, the subplots and secondary characters were like to upstage her. Moore and Goode had good chemistry together.
MPA rated it PG–13 for sexual content and brief nudity. All the music was great, including the opera. The scenery was postcard worthy. It was nicely paced and well written. The snarky agents were a refreshing touch. Runtime is 1 hour 51 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
There was one
small crucifix in a Catholic country (Italy.) A bored agent offered
a faux prayer (“It's hip hop Hebrew”) for something to do
(“Amen.”) There wasn't any religion here per se, but one may
certainly project his own values onto it.
The humor is layered and doesn't let up, but one needs to be in the mood to have his funny bone tickled. Otherwise, it's mostly used clichés. I loved it. I especially liked the SCRABBLE™ game in which the president didn't seem to enjoy the last word.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good Date Movie. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture taken from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Dürrenmatt, Friedrich. “The Judge and His Hangman.” Originally published as Der Richter und sein Henker (1950) in Der Schweizerische Beobachter (1950/51), and revised by Benziger Verlog, Einsiedeln, Zurich (1952). Reprinted in The Inspector Barlach Mysteries. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006. Print.
Miller, Randall M. The Kaleidoscopic Lens: how Hollywood views ethnic groups. Englewood, NJ: Ozer. © 1980. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org