Where the Heart is
Pregnant 17-year-old Novalee Nation runs away from her Tennessee home toward the bright lights of California, accompanied by her boyfriend, Willy Jack Pickens. But after being abandoned by her boyfriend at a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma, Novalee has no job, no skills and only $5.55 in her pocket, so she secretly lives in the Wal-Mart until her daughter Americus is born six weeks later. Novalee decides to raise her daughter and rebuild her life, with the help of eccentric but kind strangers.
5 September 1934, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
12 March 1970, College Station, Texas, USA
19 May 1993, Texas, USA
15 November 1948, Littlefield, Texas, USA
5 November 1968, Greenville, Mississippi, USA
13 February 1944, New York City, New York, USA
20 November 1989, Lewisville, Texas, USA
8 February 1989, Los Angeles, California, USA
December 29, 2010
A chick flick that's as yummy as eating bon-bons.
July 02, 2004
The script, based on a novel by Billie Lett, is sprinkled with phrases meant to be poignant and funny, but sound like repackaged cliches.
January 01, 2000
A veritable ventricular chamber orchestra of emotional manipulations and easy virtues.
December 08, 2002
This is as irritating as chick flicks come and it's a real disappointment since Portman's talents are totally wasted.
January 01, 2000
Where the Heart Is has a screenplay like that, zigging and zagging and wildly careening from one melodramatic development to the next.
November 06, 2002
The scenes feel forced, producing episodic plotting and calling attention to the characters' superficiality.
January 01, 2000
Portman ... is remarkably persuasive as the unschooled Novalee.
January 01, 2000
Delightful.
January 29, 2005
... a great big ol' commercial for the Wal-Mart
December 02, 2002
Unfortunately, the spirited performances (notably Stockard Channing as the benevolent Sister Husband) buckle under the weight of the implausibly overloaded script.
April 25, 2003
Not possessing much in the way of a character arc, saints are boring to watch and impossible to act.
August 01, 2003
...enjoyable enough.
