Where the Heart Is (2000) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing, Sally Field, Joan Cusack and James Frain. Written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel from the novel by Billie Lett. Directed by Matt Williams
"Where the Heart Is" is a movie overflowing with heart.
Based on the novel by Billie Letts, and popularized as one of Oprah's Book Club selections, the story is the odyssey of Novalee Nation, from a 17-year-old girl pregnant and abandoned at a Wal-Mart in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma, to a self-sufficient single mother who discovers her self-worth and true love.
Yes, I know, it sounds hokey, cliched. And to a small extent it is.
But the warm-hearted screenplay by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, who have co-authored "Parenthood", "City Slickers," "A League of Their Own" and "EdTV," among others, transcends the familiar.
The characters in "Where the Heart Is" are compassionate, loving and caring. You root for them, you like them.
Director Matt Williams makes an auspicious debut behind the camera. He took what could have been an overly schmaltzy pot-boiler and gives it respectability by not being condescending to his protagonists. He has genuine affection for these characters and it is evidenced throughout.
Call me a sentimental softy, but I enjoyed "Where the Heart Is." And the reason is the cast.
Natalie Portman, in her first real adult role, brings a childlike understanding to Novalee. George Lucas' Queen Amidala grows from a plucky, but frightened teen-ager to a wise young woman who overcomes her self-doubts about her status on the social structure. She is a woman who grows to realize that she has earned the right to accept love.
A wonderful supporting cast of women surround Portman, most notably Ashley Judd as Lexie who finely blends comedy and pathos as the single mom of five who always is finding the wrong man.
The always-grand Stockard Channing plays the loving Sister Husband who takes in Novalee and treats her and her baby like family. Channing is such a sharp actress that she can take what is a Shirley MacLaine-"Steel Magnolias"-type of small-town eccentric and elevate the character into a full-bodied individual filled with kindness and charity.
In a smaller role Joan Cusack delivers some comic moments as a Nashville music promoter, while Sally Field is flinty in a brief cameo as Novalee's wandering mother.
James Frain is touching and warm as Forney, who runs the town library and falls in love with Novalee and her daughter. Frain, best known for playing pianist Daniel Barenboim opposite Emily Watson in "Hilary and Jackie," at first is a bit caustic and snobbish. But he softens and becomes more sympathetic as the movie progresses.
"Where the Heart Is" will delightfully surprise you. It's a film that elicits smiles. And if you own shares of Wal-Mart stock, get ready to earn some dividends. After Where the Heart Is, every woman is going to want to deliver her baby in Aisle 4.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net Bloom, an associate member of the Online Film Critics Society, has his reviews posted at http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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