Chasing Liberty

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

As it turns out, "Liberty," a likable, light-as-air road comedy, is a much better movie than its sour-pun title.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

What's immediately apparent -- and refreshing -- about Chasing Liberty is that it doesn't play cute with its premise.

Variety Scott Foundas

Inoffensive adolescent escapism laced with surprising amounts of genuine charm.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Will probably win over as many fuddy-duddy fathers as fillies with its mixture of sweetness tempered with genial cynicism.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Boasts exceedingly high levels of improbability and an embarrassment of continuity and character shortfalls, but still has a certain bubbleheaded charm.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Chasing Liberty is not daring or adventurous, but, considering its release date (early January), it's more palatable than one might anticipate.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Lighthearted fluff, not piercing drama. Still, a little shot of reality -- or at least an acknowledgement of same -- could have done this film wonders.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Chases romance and comedy across Europe for nearly two hours without ever quite catching either. Essentially a teenage rendition of William Wyler's immortal "Roman Holiday."

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

The film means to be an unpretentious, engaging romantic comedy but stretches its charm awfully thin with a 110-minute running time.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

At least some Goode may come from Chasing Liberty: I hope we'll be seeing more of the handsome and unboyish young man with big star potential who looks ready to take on more, not Moore.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The movie's a little thin for the two-hour running time, but likable enough for its schoolgirl audience and painless enough for the adults doomed to be dragged along.

USA Today Claudia Puig

It's an innocuous, occasionally cute movie made watchable by the appealing Mandy Moore and hunky Matthew Goode, a Brit who has a bit of Hugh Grant charm in an otherwise silly role.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Jeremy Piven and Annabella Sciorra exert some charm as bodyguards tracking the couple; Mark Harmon and Caroline Goodall are OK as the heroine's parents. Andy Cadiff directed Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman's by-the-numbers script.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

It's one TV-movie romp that Kristy McNichol never got around to starring in.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Surprisingly good in areas where it doesn't need to be good at all, and pretty awful in areas where it has to succeed.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Light, doggedly formulaic romantic comedy that's almost instantly forgettable despite the sunny presence of teen queen Mandy Moore.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

On record and in her movies, Moore is sold as wholesome and real, which sometimes translates as generic and blah, in spite of her genuine appeal and accessibility.

Village Voice Laura Sinagra

Moore's lip-glossed petulance never catches fire with Goode's canned drollery.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

The kind of bland, perky comedy that neuters whoever is spun into its cotton-candy web.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Moore's likable and Goode's good. But . . . so what?

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

The movie's saving grace is newcomer Goode, who has what they used to call smoldering good looks, and who can, not so incidentally, actually act.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

It can be accurately described as a loud soundtrack occasionally punctuated by the faint vestige of a plot. Or as a lush travelogue that sometimes gives way to sporadic bursts of chirping dialogue.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

The bizarrely entertaining relationship that blossoms between Sciorra and Piven is far more amusing and convincing, which only underscores the lack of chemistry between the dewy leads.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

May find some fans among female teens. But even they may decide the project cares more about quick profits than real entertainment value, since the signs are hard to miss.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Their travelogue-ready romance is utterly doofy but not disagreeable, and this sort of wish-fulfillment fantasy will strike the right chord with Moore’s fan base of preteen girls.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A not-bad idea lurks inside this insipid story.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The lack of narrative sophistication allows an Ecstasy-like disposition to set in; "Liberty" becomes goo-goo eyed over itself. It lacks the discipline to define Anna sufficiently; rather, it portrays her as either a lovable naïf or a spoiled narcissist in desperate need of a lesson.

Premiere Kelly Borgeson

The whole film, in fact, feels slapped together and unfocused. Though the movie’s too dopey for anyone older than ten, there are scenes where characters drink and go skinny-dipping.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

An endless, virtually laugh-free pastiche of Aaron Sorkin by way of Aaron Spelling, Chasing Liberty features Mandy Moore trying so strenuously to be the next America's Sweetheart that she almost pops a vein.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Lacks the active verb it promises. It defines blah.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The screenwriters claim they got the idea for this dreary thing by glimpsing a besieged Chelsea Clinton in the stands at a basketball game.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The film does provide some nice shots of Venice and offers one solid reason to display a little patriotic fervor: We do have the freedom to avoid such rote, shallow dullness.