Customer Reviews

Here on Earth (Widescreen)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Perhaps I am a softie or a romantic, but I can't agree with many who pan this film. It is far from the greatest of films, but it was touching in many ways. It is rather formulaic, but the formula works here for the most part. A rich upstart teenager comes into a small town and manages to get into a fight with a local and burn down the local diner. In a made-for-television kind of Solomonic wisdom, the judge sentences them to work together to rebuild the diner, Mabel's Table, the 'hot spot' of this whistle-stop town. Rich out-of-towner and local boy fight over the local girl, who has a tragic secret she is concealing.

Leelee Sobieski, plays the lead as Samantha, the local girl track star whose knee gave out, jeopardising her chance to go to college. Chris Klein plays Kelley, the spoiled rich kid who is nonetheless intelligent and has a heart he begins to discover during his time in the small town. Josh Hartnett is Jasper, the local boy who wants nothing more than to keep things the way they are, including his relationship with Samantha. Most of these performances are servicable without being stellar; they are typical romantic B-film fare, with many long, ponderous glances overlooking scenic views, and silly situations in which everyday life is shown.

The action is slow, but then, it isn't meant to be a fast-paced film. Samantha is torn between the comfortable sameness of her life in the small town with Jasper and her family, and the attraction that rich 'bad boy' Kelley represents, particularly after she learns he does have a heart. Samantha overhears Kelley reciting the valedictory speech he was prevented from delivering because of his sentence to build the diner; Kelley in the end does get to the deliver the speech, under different circumstances.

Jasper and Kelley fight (both verbally and physically) over the affections of Samantha, but when Samantha falls ill, they are able to put this aside for her sake. The diner is rebuilt, the town is restored to wholeness, but the situation with Jasper, Kelley and Samantha enters a new dimension, as fate has a different ending in store that none of them anticipated at the beginning of the summer.

The other actors in the film are really background for the tale - few stand out, but one who does is Annette O'Toole, who plays Samantha's mother, a role very similar to the one she takes up on 'Smallville' as Clark Kent's mother.

The story is gentle, sad, poignant - not terribly original, but very understandable in human terms. Love is unpredictable, and love often hurts. Love sometimes requires a sacrifice. Love can transform you. These are all themes that come across in the film, if not always terribly successfully.

It is a film worth watching, though.

This movie keeps me engaged from beginning to end. If you love watching young people being surprisingly mature and wise beyond their years (LeeLee's character), yet recklessly in love at times (Hartnett & Klein's characters), you'll like this movie. It's the story of two teen boys putting back and making right what they have ruined, and a teen girl finding out that her longtime bestfriend/boyfriend (one of the boys} isn't necessarally her "true" love....Can you guess what role the other boy plays?... The Robert Frost poem used as the backdrop of the film lends a special meaning. Music tops it off perfectly. It is truely a "tear yerker" at the end. LOVED THIS MOVIE SO MUCH THAT I EVEN BOUGHT THE SOUNDTRACK...WHICH IS TERRIFIC AS WELL. It brings back all the great scenes of the movie!

I am not a young person but I just saw this movie on TV and it was wonderful!!!! Would buy the video in a minute...it's was great.

If beautiful people and horrible writing move you, by all means purchase this movie now and cry like there's no tomorrow. This is an instant classic from the profitable teen cheese factory and delivers like a charm to those who LOVE teen weepies. (For us others, we'll just suffer in silence, or, as I did, laugh really hard.) The requisite ingredients - love triangle, terminal disease, poor boy/rich boy - push the plot along in the most predictable way imaginable. Sam (Lelee Sobieski) and Jasper (Josh Hartnett) are happy in love, a superstar couple in their small town until Kelley (Chris Klein), the wealthy, out-of-town snot, comes crashing into the diner owned by Sam's parents. As a punishment, he must rebuild the diner but with the help of our buddy Jasper, who also had a hand in the crash. Before long, Sam eyes that hunky Kelley because, hey, who wouldn't fall for a mysterious rich kid? While the two boys wage their testosterone war, Sam discovers she has cancer. Uh-oh!

This movie is a big disappointment because it fails to capitalize on a relatively talented cast and a pseudo-inspiring story. Rather than developing characters instead of caricatures, the filmmakers opted for the easy, fast cash route. As a result, the dialogue seems to be spun from a 13 year old's soap opera fantasy, befitting of the target audience I suppose. Nothing innovative or inspiring comes about, leaving the audience with zero originality to warm to; this total lack of emotional investment keeps the movie distant and empty. You could say it offers ever-important life lessons to the female jr. high crowd. They undoubtedly appreciate the fine merits of this film that those in the general population seem to have missed

this is a rockin movie you should watch this cool movie all the cast rocks. it is all that and a bag of chips. pick up this movie today.

fan,of this movie rosie washington state

I absolutely loved this movie. I completely disagree with all the other reviews. Josh Hartnett was not that well known when this movie first came out. The movie is about a prep school jock that is about to graduate gets into an accident at a gas station/diner and has to spend his summer helping out rebuilding the diner. He meets Sam (LeeLee) and those 2 fall in love. But there is something in between them, Jasper (Josh Hartnett). I think its a great story because a lot of teens can relate to this movie. Except for the part that Sam gets cancer. But just about every teen has been caught up in a love triangle. And I love hearing about people falling in love and will go out of their way just for each other. I highly recommend this movie. But the main audience this movie would appeal to is the hopeless romantic type like myself.

The movie realistically portrays the relationships in the modern days, which is unconventional to most of the Hollywood love fairy-tales I've seen.
Nice for a change.
Not mentioning most actors in the film gave solid performace.
However it's disgusting to see what the movie is leading us.
The movie seems to put emphasis on encouraging couples to jeopardise a health relationship to sneak out and seek for a new partner.
What's it going on guys???
Was the filmmaker probably initiated into making the film
from a past experience similar to the behaviour of the characters in the movie? Or when has immorality of this world become norm rather than exception?
In my view, you can safely skip this movie and choose other title,and would most likely turn out to be a better choice than this one.

It seems as though this movie is not a known movie.......I wish it was beacuse it was one of the most realistic movies that I have ever seen. When I was watching it I felt like I was really her. I had the same exact surgery that she did.......and I experienced the same exact feelings that she did.........I give it 2 thumbs up and five stars.........A movie that really makes you undersatnd what life is about and makes you realize that we can't control everything......We just need to try to live happy and be as positive as we can - ALWAYS (even when times are bad)!!!!!!!

I know some ppl thought that this movie was shallow but i thought that it was brilliant. The acting was quite good, Josh Hartnett deserves a standing ovation for his portrayal of Jasper and I'm really glad that I am not the only one who thought that Leelee was a "Helen Hunt", but did any one else get reminded of Keneau Reeves by Chris Klien?

It was a sad day that I decided to sacrifice part of my day to watch Here On Earth. The film is a replication of every other formula love story: jerk meets girl with decent boyfriend -> falls in love with girl, fights boyfriend -> loses girl forever, old boyfriend not such a bad guy afterall. The end.

That storyline will be found in cinema till the day an asteroid destroys the earth, which in itself is not a bad theme (the lost love etc., not doomsday). I enjoy a little pathos through mathos, enlightenment through suffering or loss. But the screenwriters for Here On Earth hardly have the knack to tell a story like the ancient Greek tragedists (See Aeschylus).

Josh Hartnett, Lee Lee Sobieski, and Chris Klein provide able performances, but then who couldn't for roles we've all had embedded into our brains by so many other better movies (A Farewell To Arms [1932 ver.], Love Story, etc.). The trio are trapped in a weak screenplay of cliches and melodramatic scenes that would have made Douglas Sirk proud (Written On The Wind).

For those of you who have experienced loss and love together, much of this film may hit close to home. From this, empathy for the characters' sufferings will give a shared experience to the viewer that can enhance the melancholic enjoyment of the film. But aside from this, there are few positive notes I can say about Here On Earth, except kudos for these (previously) upcoming actors and Sobieski's ability to imitate Helen Hunt.

I only wish an asteroid could have destroyed the vault containing Here On Earth's master reel before it went to video/dvd.