Review of Where the Heart Is

Introduction

After seeing Natalie Portman`s acting abilities in Anywhere But Here and two of the Star Wars movies, I was interested to see how she performed in this, a movie about what to do when nothing is going your way.

It is based on a successful novel by Billie Letts, and focuses on young and naive Novelie Nation who is abandoned at Wal-Mart (the U.S. shopping chain) by her boyfriend, whilst heavily pregnant. It is a story about het taking her first unsure steps into parenthood and about forging friendships with the people she meets.

Video

It is presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, and the print is crisp and clear throughout.

The movie is presented well, with the palette used to good effect and there are no compression signs. Portman`s acting is excellent and all of her body language is conveyed well onto your screen.

Audio

A DD 5.1 track is on offer here. This is a dialogue-driven movie, but there is a fair bit of music in it, which is recipricated well by the surrounds.

The script is quite good, and is adapted well. The dialogue is sharp and absorbing in parts, and the audio track conveys this well.

Features

The disc comes with static menus (with music however), a theatrical trailer and music video. The trailer is the standard affair, and the music video is the song that is song in the movie by Novelie`s ex-boyfriend.

The extras are sparse, and you can`t help feeling short-changed. Whatever happened to a making-of, deleted scenes or even an interview with a cast or crew member? Unless this disc was hijacked during its production at 20th Century Fox, it seems that they didn`t put much effort into delivering a good array of special features. Again.

Conclusion

A powerful movie is delivered on an OK disc. The movie is slightly slow starting, but once it gets going it deals with some excellent issues, with the acting top-notch throughout.

This could have rotted in TV movie hell, but due to a strong ensemble cast and intelligent directing, Where The Heart Is is an enjoyable watch, and although it won`t appeal to everyone, it is worth a rent at least.

As for the disc, it it good apart from the weak extras.