Southern flavor goes down just fine

Natalie Portman never makes a false move as a pregnant teenager blooming into maturity in Where the Heart Is.

By STEVE PERSALL, Time Film Critic

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 28, 2000

[Photo: 20th Century Fox] Natalie Portman plays Novalee Nation, a pregnant teen deserted by her baby’s father at a Wal-Mart.

Everyone has a corn pone name and a crisis on the horizon in Where the Heart Is. But no one is cuter or spunkier than Novalee Nation.

Novalee is an Oprah guest waiting to happen: pregnant at 15, deserted by the father at a Wal-Mart hundreds of miles from her Tennessee mobile home, naive to the restrictions and possibilities of the real world. Where the Heart Is hurtles through her eccentric blooming like a reader skimming to the best parts of a novel, a rush that would be more distracting if Natalie Portman weren't playing the part.

Portman never makes a false move as Novalee, a role completely at odds with her sophisticated self. Nothing calls attention to the fact that Novalee is such a stretch. There isn't a hint of superiority in her performance, no trailer trash parody that would be a lesser actor's first impulse. Portman loves the character and her craft too much to resort to that.

Novalee's growth is measured in tiny smiles and a tilt of her head getting prouder with every positive step. She doesn't rise to greatness as much as she floats to respectability. It's not a showy role by any means, yet Portman imbues each scene with serene precision. It is truly exciting to watch such a young (age 18) actor working like an old pro, with a child's determination to please.

Novalee isn't Cinderella. She loses her slippers through the rusty hole where Willy Jack Pickens' floorboard used to be. Willy is the father of her child, but he has a country music career on his mind. When Novalee pads into a Wal-Mart for shoes, he takes off without her. Novalee is crushed, then secretly lives for six weeks inside the department store until her daughter, Americus, is born.

The story careens in all sorts of directions from there, none explained in depth in the adapted screenplay by veteran string-pullers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (City Slickers, A League of Their Own). First-time director Matt Williams crams as much rural commotion into two hours as possible: celebrity for Novalee as the Wal-Mart Mommy, her two devil-may-care mentors (Stockard Channing, Ashley Judd), various romances, a killer tornado, Willy's Nashville odyssey, a kidnapping, the list goes on and on.

[Photo: 20th Century Fox] In this case, the heart is in the cast, especially Natalie Portman, above left, and Ashley Judd. Southern womanhood takes a bow, but this is no male-bashing “chick flick.”

Yet, the movie never irritates as much as the scattershot plot suggests. There is a pleasant rhythm to the melodrama that is practically no rhythm at all. "Our lives can change with every breath we take," Novalee tells a friend in need. Williams conducts his film in the same serendipitous manner.

No matter what occurs, the actors keep it interesting. Portman is ably supported, mostly by female actors enjoying a rare ensemble opportunity. Something about Southern womanhood inspires these characters; gentility laced with saucy rebellion, like Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias.

Judd easily sashays through these conditions, considering her Southern background. Judd plays Lexie, a nurse who becomes Novalee's closest confidante. Channing couldn't miss the chance to look rumpled and speak the racy wisdom of Sister Husband, a guardian angel of sorts. Sally Field, a veteran of such rise-and-shine movies, appears in one scene as Novalee's vagabond mother.

The men in Novalee's life are treated better by the script than might be expected. Willy (Dylan Bruno) is a lout because his brain fails him, not his heart. The movie spends too much time on his music career with a pushy manager (Joan Cusack, sharp as always) to set up a later brush with Novalee. Keith David lends a helping hand as a kindly photographer, and James Frain gives a lovelorn character named Forney Hull more backbone than usual in a "chick flick."

Unfortunately, that term will be used to describe Where the Heart Is, dividing its potential audience in half. But, even with the unusual sight of four women's names billed above the title, Where the Heart Is doesn't pander to male-bashing fantasies. Men and women lean on each other and sometimes move out of the way. If leaners fall, someone else picks them up. Nice thought. Nice movie.

Where the Heart Is

• GRADE: B
• DIRECTOR: Matt Williams
• CAST: Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing, Joan Cusack, Sally Field, Keith David, Dylan Bruno
• SCREENPLAY: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, based on the novel by Billie Letts
• RATING: PG-13; sexual situations, profanity, violence
• RUNNING TIME: 120 min.