SNMR 1.29: "Where the Heart Is"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Where the Heart Is"
(2000, PG-13, 120 minutes) starring Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing, Joan Cusack, James Frain, Dylan Bruno, Sally Field and Keith David. The film was directed by Matt Williams.

I first rented this movie when it came out on DVD, largely because of Natalie Portman's performance in Star Wars I: Phantom Menace. As with most people, I'm sure, I had never heard of her before the first Star Wars prequel and wanted to see how she'd do in a more normal role. An added bonus for me was that Ashley Judd was the co-star. I had first noticed Judd in my favorite Star Trek: TNG episode of all-time (5.6) called The Game, a wonderful take on Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

From the DVD's dust jacket:

Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman star in this offbeat, delicious slice of life about a down-on-her-luck southern teen who, after gaining 15 minutes of fame for giving birth to "The Wal-Mart Baby", begins to put her life together with the help of the kind, quirky strangers who become her surrogate family.
Based on the #1 best-selling novel by Billie Letts, this "brilliantly funny, deeply moving, beautifully acted" (KNX/CBS Radio) film co-stars Stockard Channing and Joan Cusack in an inspiring celebration of love and friendship.

From Martin & Porter's DVD & Video Guide 2006, p. 1252-:

For a while, this film overcomes its melodramatic trappings and becomes an engaging if unlikely account of a young woman, 17 and pregnant, who is abandoned by her boyfriend at an Oklahoma Wal-Mart; once her baby is born, she befriends a series of colorful and eccentric characters who become the surrogate family she never had. Unfortunately, contrivance and heavy dollops of bathos eventually turn this adaptation of Billie Letts' novel into soap-opera swill.

Despite this film being a bit long and dragged out, I like it. The mark of an excellent actress is how they do without the best quality material. I believe that Natalie Portman does well with the material at hand. It's a cute, feel good story. The script is a bit weak, whether it's an accurate reflection on the novel or just a lacking adaptation, I don't know - having never read the novel.

This film, plain and simple, is fluff with a happy ending. The kind of mindless entertainment that serves exactly that purpose. I'll give this film three out of five stars.