From the director who brought us The Joy Luck Club (Wayne Wang) comes another film about a mother-daughter relationship. Anywhere But Here stars Susan Sarandon as Adele August and Natalie Portman (fresh from Star Wars The Phantom Menace) as the daughter Ann.

Adele is frustrated by the small town life in Bay City, Wisconsin and escapes to Beverly Hills, California, in a second-hand Mercedes accompanied by her very unwilling and pensive daughter. Ann does not want to leave her family and friends behind, and can barely stand her mother, who is flaky, irresponsible and crass, although she means well.

Both mother and daughter tries to start a new life in California - finding a place to stay, going to school, finding a job, getting involved with men (willingly and unwillingly). Along the way, they find themselves in a love-hate relationship with each other and gradually realise they need each other even though they find each other frustrating.

I think this film has a number of good points and well crafted scenes, but overall I found it a bit slow. Certainly it did not grab my attention and focus as The Joy Luck Club, but still this is worth watching.

The movie can be slow in parts, but overall it is a very good movie because it shows that real life is not all sunshine and smiles.

The movie is about Adele and Anne August who leave there home in Wisconson and move to California. Over the four or five years the film depicts there are highs (not many) and more lows (such as Adeles nephew Benny dieing and her mother having a stroke) and alot of attitude for Anne about how much she does not like her mom and how she wishes that she were anywhere than where she was.

"And when she dies, the world will be flat. Too simple, too fair... Too reasonable". It is the educational purpose of movies - to know the people outside our "reasonable" friend circle, to know the world are full of different peoples.

Sarandon's understanding and performance of the role was deep into the skin. Years later when the beauty of Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry were long forgotten, skillful actresses like Sarandon will still represent in the video history of our generations.

Yet another mother-daughter road movie in the vein of Tumbleweeds! Why are they always driving through the Nevada desert on their way to California? Don't single moms ever drive through, say, New England, or maybe the Skyline Drive in Virginia? Or how about Oregon and Washington State? In any case, this episodic film maintains your interest well enough.

This movie is the best movie that I have ever seen! Its my favorite movie and I watch it almost everyday. The way the mother and daughter end up connecting in the end is just amazing. ABSOLUTELY NO COMPARISON TO TUMBLEWEED... 110% BETTER! Anywhere But Here is a movie everyone must own!