Anna Foster (Mandy Moore) is the First Daughter of the United States who grows more and more frustrated with her father President James Foster's (Mark Harmon) assigned protection details that routinely prevent her from having any private or personal life. On a trip to the G8 summit in Prague, Anna experiences the city firsthand but after learning her father reneged on his promise of a minimal security detail runs off with the help of Ben Calder (Matthew Goode) who unbeknownst to her is a secret service agent. James decides to let the illusion go on giving Anna "controlled freedom" against the advice of all including Ben and as Ben tries to keep Anna's wild impulses in check he starts to develop feelings for her.
Chasing Liberty is a 2004 romantic comedy that marked one of two romantic comedy films based around the First Daughter (the other being First Daughter released later that year) both beginning development around 1999 or 2000 respectively and inspired by Chelsea Clinton's experiences trying to avoid public attention. Neither film performed particularly well critically or financially, but Chasing Liberty was seen as the better of the two by virtue of at least having appealing leads. Chasing Liberty is very disposable date night fodder that's harmless and inoffensive even if it takes very little chances.
If there's anything to be said for the movie, Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode are at least charming leads who have solid chemistry with each other. The early scenes in particular in Prague and Venice feature some amusing moments between the two even if we're met with the familiar "road movie" cliches but at least they're delivered in a way that makes them somewhat palatable. As a travelogue there's certainly some nice picturesque locales we're exposed to even if we venture into the occasional cartoonish/sitcom archetype, but it never feels grating. As with most romantic comedies the film is heavily based on formula and needs to be judged primarily on the strength of its leads and writing. While the movie has two solid leads the writing is more hit and miss especially in how it's maybe overlong by about 20 minutes and would've benefitted from a shorter runtime, and Mark Harmon while seemingly well suited to this role feels like the movie is a bit too forgiving for the part he plays in the whole string of events with Ben baring the brunt of the blame.
Chasing Liberty is a "rental" movie through and through. While it's scores better than Andy Cadiff's prior directorial effort Leave it to Beaver, it's very much a sitcom plot with sitcom stakes and sitcom jokes. There's worse options for date night, but there's also better ones.
Chasing Liberty is a 2004 romantic comedy that marked one of two romantic comedy films based around the First Daughter (the other being First Daughter released later that year) both beginning development around 1999 or 2000 respectively and inspired by Chelsea Clinton's experiences trying to avoid public attention. Neither film performed particularly well critically or financially, but Chasing Liberty was seen as the better of the two by virtue of at least having appealing leads. Chasing Liberty is very disposable date night fodder that's harmless and inoffensive even if it takes very little chances.
If there's anything to be said for the movie, Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode are at least charming leads who have solid chemistry with each other. The early scenes in particular in Prague and Venice feature some amusing moments between the two even if we're met with the familiar "road movie" cliches but at least they're delivered in a way that makes them somewhat palatable. As a travelogue there's certainly some nice picturesque locales we're exposed to even if we venture into the occasional cartoonish/sitcom archetype, but it never feels grating. As with most romantic comedies the film is heavily based on formula and needs to be judged primarily on the strength of its leads and writing. While the movie has two solid leads the writing is more hit and miss especially in how it's maybe overlong by about 20 minutes and would've benefitted from a shorter runtime, and Mark Harmon while seemingly well suited to this role feels like the movie is a bit too forgiving for the part he plays in the whole string of events with Ben baring the brunt of the blame.
Chasing Liberty is a "rental" movie through and through. While it's scores better than Andy Cadiff's prior directorial effort Leave it to Beaver, it's very much a sitcom plot with sitcom stakes and sitcom jokes. There's worse options for date night, but there's also better ones.