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.
10 May 1977, Houston, Texas, USA
24 November 1973, Groves, Texas, USA
12 March 1970, College Station, Texas, USA
15 January 1974, Tarrant County, Texas, USA
20 April 1995, Waxahachie, Texas, USA
19 April 1968, Granada Hills, California, USA
7 August 1970, Radford, Virginia, USA
10 July 1946, Clovis, California, USA
6 September 1972, Milford, Connecticut, USA
5 September 1934, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
1970, Grand Prairie, Texas, USA
9 November 1946, San Antonio, Texas, USA
15 March 1955, Detroit, Michigan, USA
25 September 1959, Plattsburgh, New York, USA
18 October 1964, Houston, Texas, USA
15 November 1948, Littlefield, Texas, USA
22 November 1955, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
14 March 1977, Arlington, Texas, USA
5 November 1968, Greenville, Mississippi, USA
20 November 1989, Lewisville, Texas, USA
28 January 1957, Cuero, Texas, USA
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.
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.
August 01, 2003
...enjoyable enough.
December 29, 2010
A chick flick that's as yummy as eating bon-bons.
April 25, 2003
Not possessing much in the way of a character arc, saints are boring to watch and impossible to act.
January 01, 2000
A veritable ventricular chamber orchestra of emotional manipulations and easy virtues.
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.
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.
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
Delightful.
