To be honest, I was genuinely surprised to see this film rated much higher than about 5/10 or 5.5/10. The high rating was undoubtedly due to emotional and seldom-used themes explored in Where the Heart Is, but this cannot disguise the movie's incredible lack of continuity and poor acting.
(Spoilers ahead)
To be blunt, Natalie Portman cannot act. The scene where she first has contractions (in the Wal-mart bathroom with the little girl nearby) was terrible! Novalee was supposed to be in at least a _little_ pain, but all Portman does is say "Aaaah" twice at a normal conversational volume. Patently unconvincing. And I don't think any of the other actors will be winning any awards either.
All the movie's advertising harped on the problems that Novalee would have raising the child. When it's clear that the child will have a happy home about 1/3 through the movie, it's the movie that is having the problems, the first of which is the incredible ease with which Novalee recovers from the abandonment(about 15 minutes of movie time). Most of the rest of the scenes manage to move the timeline along without advancing the plot. Americus, the child, has only marginal importance in the second half of the movie. (and who the heck thought of "Americus" and Novalee's reasoning behind the name? Aya!) It seems like the writers had difficulty trying to make a story long enough for a movie. The last 2/3 of the movie consists of several unrelated incidents, which culminate in true love. A good example is the incredibly contrived tornado scene. It's so stupid! To generate some suspense, Novalee of course has to leave the shelter when the tornado is 10 m away, and nearly get sucked into the twister. Boy, it sure left me wondering whether she would survive. The scene's purpose was to kill off Sister, but even though I liked the character, it didn't seem to matter very much.
They follow the music career of Willy (who abandoned Novalee), but it never has any bearing on the rest of the movie. There's plenty of other filler (the worst was Forney "explaining" to Americus how chocolate milk and whipped cream are made. Banal and pointless. The last line of that scene was a slayer).
This movie also seems to have a contradiction. Novalee's problems started when Willy and she had sex before being truly committed to each other. Yet, she and Forney also have sex before she is willing to be committed, and this intercourse is viewed positively (I guess since they are together at the end). So it's not smart to have sex outside of marriage except if it's to someone you like but won't see again?
To sum up, the movie is a patchwork of scenes that are mostly uncoordinated and irrelevant. It's not campy, but it's good for a few laughs. Or cries of agony in a normal conversational tone.
(Spoilers ahead)
To be blunt, Natalie Portman cannot act. The scene where she first has contractions (in the Wal-mart bathroom with the little girl nearby) was terrible! Novalee was supposed to be in at least a _little_ pain, but all Portman does is say "Aaaah" twice at a normal conversational volume. Patently unconvincing. And I don't think any of the other actors will be winning any awards either.
All the movie's advertising harped on the problems that Novalee would have raising the child. When it's clear that the child will have a happy home about 1/3 through the movie, it's the movie that is having the problems, the first of which is the incredible ease with which Novalee recovers from the abandonment(about 15 minutes of movie time). Most of the rest of the scenes manage to move the timeline along without advancing the plot. Americus, the child, has only marginal importance in the second half of the movie. (and who the heck thought of "Americus" and Novalee's reasoning behind the name? Aya!) It seems like the writers had difficulty trying to make a story long enough for a movie. The last 2/3 of the movie consists of several unrelated incidents, which culminate in true love. A good example is the incredibly contrived tornado scene. It's so stupid! To generate some suspense, Novalee of course has to leave the shelter when the tornado is 10 m away, and nearly get sucked into the twister. Boy, it sure left me wondering whether she would survive. The scene's purpose was to kill off Sister, but even though I liked the character, it didn't seem to matter very much.
They follow the music career of Willy (who abandoned Novalee), but it never has any bearing on the rest of the movie. There's plenty of other filler (the worst was Forney "explaining" to Americus how chocolate milk and whipped cream are made. Banal and pointless. The last line of that scene was a slayer).
This movie also seems to have a contradiction. Novalee's problems started when Willy and she had sex before being truly committed to each other. Yet, she and Forney also have sex before she is willing to be committed, and this intercourse is viewed positively (I guess since they are together at the end). So it's not smart to have sex outside of marriage except if it's to someone you like but won't see again?
To sum up, the movie is a patchwork of scenes that are mostly uncoordinated and irrelevant. It's not campy, but it's good for a few laughs. Or cries of agony in a normal conversational tone.