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List Price: $9.99 | | Label: Walt Disney Video
Salesrank: 31697
Released: June 3, 2003 |
| Our Price: $4.64 |
| Used Price: $4.39 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Stewart McBain (Dabney Coleman -- DRAGNET, TOOTSIE) is a successful, wealthy businessman who has given his family the easy life. Now, as young adults, none of the kids are in any hurry to leave the cushy lifestyle they enjoy at home. But McBain knows best. Or so he thinks! To the surprise of his wife (Joanna Cassidy -- WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT) he kicks the kids out into a dilapidated tenement hoping they'll discover responsibility for themselves. But the table turns when McBain's business goes under and he and his wife must move in with their offbeat offspring! Now the McBain family must once again learn to live together, an experience that teaches them where their real family fortunes lie!
Where the Heart Is Reviews:
Classically structured comedy 
2009-03-01 - Family with everything loses everything, discover themselves and their own talents. Everyone falls in love with the right person and there is a party at the end.
I saw this film at Mann's Chinese in Hollywood during it's brief original run and told everyone I knew to see it (none did). I was and am surprised that no attempt was made to market the artwork created for the film.
It is a heart warming story about a successful man being pushed about by his children, so he moves them out hoping they'll grow up (they're all adults living at home). His business has gone south as one architecturally insignificant house is declared a landmark and so it cannot be demolished and holds up a high rise project into which he has sinks all his assets, and of course the bank calls them in. So, this wealthy man finds himself broke and broken and he turns to his children for shelter. They in turn discover self reliance.
The art work for this film is stunning and unfortunately for you it's no longer available on the big screen; however, on the small screen it is still stunning. When the film came out, the best video was on Laser Disk (remember those?) and despite not having a player I bought it in that format. I eventually had a friend transfer it to DVD.
This IS a classic comedy, the characters are well defined (although there is one character with few lines, yet is very present and turns out to be the sons love of loves (I think some of her scenes may have been cut)(inexplicably). It is deftly executed, well written and structured. It is one of my favorite movies.
Great Stuff!!! 
2008-03-29 - This is one of Uma Thurman's first films. It's a heartwarming story story of familial relationships during good times and bad. The art is one of the things that make this interesting viewing, and the cast is excellent.
Lighthearted
2007-12-26 - This is a wide screen edition with no extras on the disc. The regular network stations used to play this movie on weekends when I was a kid. It is a wonderful light hearted film about a group of spoiled rich kids getting kicked out and trying to make it on their own. It is in no way a serious, true to life film. More like a fanciful fairytale that naturally has a happy ending. The cast of characters and the range of artistic individuals is what makes this movie special to me. It seems to center around the creation and compilation of the groups artistic talents. The fashion designer prentending to be gay so he gets "taken seriously" is one colorful piece. And the crowning glory is the massive murals that one young artist creates and photographs for a calendar project. Her murals combine wall paintings, painting on the human body, and props to create an awesome finished product. I love just skipping to the murals in the movie....it is inspiring.
Does Father Know Best After All? 
2006-09-07 - The beginning of this flick reminded me of the play "Lost In Yonkers" with the exception that these young people were all from an upper class (status wise) family and had exceptional, individualistic talents. Christopher Plummer, long a favorite of mine, was just plain silly as the old magician. But we won't dwell on that. If you find that something you thought you really, really wanted no longer seems to desirable, this is the day to admit that to yourself and let the old dream go. That was the whole premise of this story.
Many people paint illusions and live in unreality, but these beatnicks of rare abilities are strange being, lost souls. The father who knows best is a master at demolition of old buildings and finds one where he transplants his weirdly-talented offspring to fend for themselves. The sisters made risque films and accumulated tenants who lived there in the tenement free if they participated in the montage for a calender, one you would never believe or expect from such a high-class background as these two girls. The young man is a computer whiz who develops his own games online and helps out with the charade when needed.
On the dance floor, "I've forgotten the steps.' "Your head has, but your heart hasn't." We never forget the music we loved or which helped us to grow up alone or with a large family; music is what soothes the soul when it needs balm. Who stopped the music, one asked; the father declared, "I did." And he paid for it bigtime. Stewart (Dabney Coleman) had a breakdown of sorts and learned to speak in 'tongues.' And so he and his wealthy wife fit right in with the rest of this weird group. None were ordinary. They learned a new level of confidence there in their artsy atmosphere. It was all a surrealistic fantasy and the gold eye makeup on the lotus flower was extravagant.
It sometimes takes failure to appreciate your success. Watching Stewart bid farewell to his office staff was worth the whole film. The grown-up kids were what really made the movie, however. What's the point of life -- it's just a rehearsal. They learned that life really is just an adaptation, all a game to be played out. The eerie house had fulfilled the need and so it too hit the dust. If you have not seen this one, it will keep you wondering how they got away with some of it past the censors and the rest will keep you in stitches. Coleman was the original Steve Martin.
WHERE THE HEART IS 
2006-02-23 - Disappointing- as a Boorman admirer I had expected to enjoy it, but found it flat and stagey. The dated, hammy acting style seemed intentional but the intention was obscure. The arty visuals however were marvellous
