[.ca] Here on Earth

From Amazon.com:
Slumming among the locals of a small New York town, Kelley Morse (Chris Klein), graduating senior at a posh prep school and all-around insufferable rich kid, engages the testosterone of one of the hicks (Josh Hartnett) when he flirts with the guy's girlfriend, Samantha (LeeLee Sobieski). A car chase ensues, resulting in Samantha's family's diner getting blown up, which in turn lands the boys in hot water with the law. The upshot is the snotty rich kid is sentenced to help the locals rebuild the diner. A romance develops between Kelley and Samantha, apparently because they like a particular Robert Frost poem. So now they're deep, see. But then their love is tested when Samantha contracts Ali MacGraw disease. You know, that's the sudden disease Ali McGraw gets in Love Story--really an excuse to emphasize the strength of the characters' love. You don't know what you got till it's gone, right? This film would be pretty bad if the performances weren't so engaging, especially LeeLee Sobieski's, who seems to be channeling Helen Hunt in this movie. Though Chris Klein never makes us believe for an instant that his arrogant character could make the changes he does, or that his and Sobieski's characters could ever really get together. The script is too thin to support any motivations, and the film falls into formula weepy territory to appeal to teen tear ducts. Lovers of weepies might overlook the film's plot weaknesses in favor of the strong performances and the prospect of a good cry. --Jim Gay

Almost worse than Charlie's Angels:
I watched this on cable because I was a big Leelee fan. Big mistake. What a horrible film. You don't care one bit for any of the characters in the movie. Chris Klein plays a guy who is a complete jerk in the film, and steals away Josh Hartnett's longtime girlfriend. If the writer knew what they were doing, this film would have followed the proven formula, and made Hartnett an ass, and Leelee as the girlfriend trapped in a bad relationship, from which she's saved by Klein. But Hartnett is a really cool guy, who shows a lot of emotion and love for Leelee. You then hate leelee, because she cheats on Hartnett with Klein, who is a jerk to everyone in the town that's trying to help him and really stuck up. It's also really campy, and the characters do everything but run around the kitchen dancing and lip synching, and using hairbrushes and spoons and fake microphones (although they come very close). What a horrible horrible movie. You don't even care what happens in the end because the director never lets you care about the characters.

wildly predictable and uninspiring teen fluff:
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

Wonderful!!:
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.

A romantic tale:
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.

A Definate "Watch Again, & Again ,& Again" Movie!:
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!