2004, Comedy, Rated PG-13
Director: Andy Cadiff
Cast: Mandy Moore, Matthew Goode, Mark Harmon

Anna (Mandy) is the only daughter of the president of the USA. It’s impossible for her to get any action because of that. While the president is visiting Prague, Anna escapes from the Secret Service and hops on a motorcycle with a mysterious stud named Ben (Goode). Little does she know that he is not what he appears to be. He is also a secret service who is assigned to watch her. Well, you can guess the rest.

It is very cute. Sure, it’s manufactured exactly following the romantic film recipe and has every single ingredient to make this type of film (understanding mom, over protecting dad, comic relief with their own subplot, annoying character that needs to be cut out completely and so on). So don’t expect twist or surprises. (Note: Wait, there is a surprise moment (Mandy’s butt)... but I learned that it’s a body double.) If you have seen the trailer, you have seen the film. But good thing about this film is it stars Mandy Moore. That’s right, Mandy Moore who has undeniable presence and unaffected charm that inspires everyone’s affection. Do you need any other reason than that to see this film?

Everyone in this film provides solid performances. No one’s performance is really forced. There are things that make you go “huh” a couple times (obviously the president of USA cares more about his daughter’s sex life than national issues, wait…that is realistic, never mind), but it is a cute date film to see for those teen couples and a cute film for grown ***censored*** men to see alone in the dark.

Although it entertained me, it is way too long. At least twenty minutes longer than it should have been.

Shogo is an award-award winning filmmaker currently hard at work on a new project. Asian Fever is his weekly column devoted to Asian cinema and related topics.