'Liberty' lacks key romantic-comedy ingredient

• Singer-actress finds unbeaten path laden with rewards

By Chris Hewitt
Knight Ridder News Service

Mandy Moore, as the daughter of a U.S. president, and Matthew Goode star in "Chasing Liberty." Jaap Buitendijk 'Chasing Liberty' PG-13, for skinny-dipping, underage drinking, sexual situations and swearing 111 minutes

All romantic comedies require something that keeps our obviously-perfect-for-each-other lovers apart, but when that something is as nasty as it is in "Chasing Liberty" (or last year's "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"), it gives the movie a mean-spirited tone that is the antithesis of bubbly, fun romance.

For me, watching movies like that is akin to eating a chocolate-covered cherry. Yeah, there's the delicious chocolate on the outside, but what are you supposed to do with the gross, viscous, not-a-cherry-and-in-fact-what-the-heck-is-it? on the inside?

Moore plays the daughter of the U.S. president. She's code-named Liberty, and she's trying to elude her "Secret Servants" so she can canoodle with a hottie she meets in one of the many stunning European capitals she travels to (World Cup tournaments don't visit as many beauteous cities as "Chasing Liberty").

The gross, viscous inside is that the hottie (Matthew Goode) has a secret — we know it, she doesn't — that convinces us he's not worthy of her, even though he does have flat abs, bedroom eyebrows and a killer British accent.

For a romantic comedy to work, we need to believe in the romance, and you won't. You also won't believe a sub-par plot involving the flirtation between Liberty's Secret Service agents, which has clearly been tacked on for the parents of Moore's fans. And you'll have trouble swallowing the idea that the first daughter could vanish in Europe, as she does here, and the International Herald Tribune wouldn't be full of the news.

All of which is a shame, because "Liberty" reflects some of Moore's bright, summery spirit. And the central premise — the loneliness you'd feel if you were the president's daughter and you were always in the limelight — is a good one.

Unfortunately, the movie forgets about that premise early on, and turns it into a generic, bland formula. I guess the good news is there's a movie coming up called "First Daughter," in which Katie Holmes plays virtually the same role. This one was first, but maybe that one will be good.

Singer-actress finds unbeaten path laden with rewards

Mandy Moore has turned down roles in teen-comedy and slasher flicks for meatier fare. Associated Press

It's hard not to think about Robert Frost's famous "The Road Not Taken" when speaking with the 19-year-old singer-actress, because much of her conversation is about roads she hasn't gone down. Her new movie, "Chasing Liberty," for instance. Opening today, the film is about the daughter of the president, visiting Europe with her dad and attempting to elude her Secret Service protectors so she can have a European fling.

"I'm a big fan of romantic comedies, and I had never ventured down the path of doing one before," says Moore. "I loved the fact that I could infuse some of myself into it and draw some comparisons to my own life. And being in Europe certainly didn't hurt."

Moore, who has recorded four albums and appeared in a half-dozen movies (including "A Walk to Remember" and "The Princess Diaries"), says she related to the idea of trying to have a private life when you're in the public eye, referring to her relationship with tennis pro Andy Roddick. But Ben and J-Lo apparently have taken the heat off Andy and Mandy, because she says her life is a breeze compared with that of her "Chasing Liberty" character.

She also doesn't use her singing career to push her movie career, or vice versa. "No, I definitely want to make the distinction between the two, not to have my music in my movies just because I'm a singer," says Moore, who admits sheepishly that one of her songs can be heard, uncredited, in the background near the end of "Chasing Liberty."

The song is from her latest record, "Coverage," an ambitious project that finds her covering tunes by greats of the '70s, including Elton John, Joni Mitchell and Todd Rundgren. Yeah, she knew she was taking a chance re-recording those classics.

"Oh, of course. You make a record like this expecting to get roasted, but we didn't really care," says Moore, who recorded it with producer John "Strawberry" Fields. "Fields and myself just holed up in his garage in L.A. and had fun. We knew that people would hate it without even listening to it, but it didn't matter, because we loved these songs."

The thing is, people haven't hated "Coverage." Moore's youthful fan base has not embraced the record, which has not sold as well as her previous records, but reviews have been surprisingly strong (Spin magazine gave the CD four stars). And performing real songs instead of bubblegum has positioned Moore as a more serious performer.

Moore's parents came of age in the '70s, but they didn't turn her on to the "Coverage" songs, she says, sounding briefly like a regular teenager instead of one who's a conglomerate: "No, they're still dancing in the kitchen to the same Eagles and Doobie Brothers songs they listened to when I was growing up. It's embarrassing."

She says even if the record had been roasted, making it was its own reward. "I discovered these songs over the last few years, looking through record bins," she says. "Once I developed the idea of doing these covers, I'd just go from A-Z and pick out people I didn't know, but knew I should know. I thought, 'I'm in the music industry and I don't own a Joni Mitchell record. I should.' "

Moore began checking out '70s artists when she was on a plane to Australia and noticed her manager reacting ecstatically to something he was listening to on his headphones.

"He let me listen to it — it was Joan Armatrading's 'Drop the Pilot' (a Moore version of which appears on "Coverage") — and then I listened to her other songs and I loved it. I started with musical theater — 'Oklahoma' and stuff — and then I was on tour with N' Sync, so I was listening to all that Top 40 stuff, but she was the first person who introduced me to this whole other world out there. Because she sang with so much passion and she was letting her voice crack with emotion. I know it sounds crazy not to know about that stuff, but it just wasn't my world."

So, ultimately, she decided to go down that path, instead of making another pop record. And she decided not to do the high school comedies and slasher films she was offered. She did not perform her character's bungee-jumping scene in "Chasing Liberty," because the movie's insurance company wouldn't let her. And she opted not to pose for the cover of Maxim, although she has been on other, less-racy magazines.

Along the way, Moore has had disappointments. Last summer's "How to Deal" was, she says, "homogenized. It could have been better, and it wasn't the movie we shot." Last month's "Mona Lisa Smile" had Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Julia Roberts, but not Moore, who auditioned but was told she was too young. And she has not realized her dream of appearing in a Broadway musical, yet. She is a bit too young for most of the classic musical roles.

Her eventual goal? Miss Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls."

"It's my all-time favorite, but they just did a revival of it a few years ago. I know, because I was in a movie with Peter Gallagher, who was in that revival, and 'Guys and Dolls' was the only thing I would talk to him about."

Moore says she is confident she'll be able to go down that path, that "Guys and Dolls" will be revived again "some time before I'm 50." Which gives her 30 years to go down a few other paths first.