I for one love this movie it is very good the cast was good the story was good

I love this movie 🥰

I was surpisingly impressed by this movie. It dives into the concept of found family, and that won me over.

I read the book before seeing the movie, I thought it was a good rendition of the book without many differences.

One of my favourite movies growing up. I know it's not a masterpiece, but I have loved Natalie Portman unconditionnally ever since. Call it imprinting.

I saw a critic's review that the plot is messy. Listen, Honey, that's just the way life is — messy and full of surprises. You can't sanitize it like a clearly plotted hero's journey. Love the "messiness" of the plot. The one clear thread, though, when seeds of kindness are planted in the lives of people, their lives change in the most unexpected ways. In the end, LIFE (Love in Full Expression — thanks, Suzanne Giesemann, for this useful acronym) wins.

This movie has heart and stands the test of time. 23 years later, it still resonates. Still watchable and sweet. Recommend.

All time fav movie if you have the time sit down and watch it very much worth you're time.

Spoilers Below: The only redeeming quality of this movie was the acting of the cast. Natalie Portman (Novalee) along with Ashley Judd (Lexie) portrayed their characters (poorly-written ones at that) convincingly and with true emotion. Stockard Channing (Sister Husband) did a fine job at playing a lovable mother-figure that helped movie the story along. I say story very loosely, because this movie had no discernable plot. It watched like when you have to get to a certain word count so you just keep adding details that really don't connect or make much sense at all. Now, it may just be a terrible novel that the movie was adapted from, but it doesn't negate the fact that the writers made some "interesting" choices when creating this film. The movie was made up of convenient coincidences. Novalee's pentaphobia was written in as an excuse to add dramatic, nonsensical, and atrocious plot points. She gets $5.55 as change? Oh no, her garbage ex abandons her at Wal-Mart! She receives $500? This must mean that her mother, who abandoned her and had no impact on the film other than proving how terrible of a person she is, is coming back around to steal said cash! It's December 5th? This must mean something is wrong with Novalee's baby, Americus! And sure enough, some missionaries from Mississippi kidnap her! These completely illogical events that occur in the movie are flimsily explained by a phobia that, in all honesty, is more premonitory than it is absurd. The writers also should've stopped focusing on Novalee's ex, Willy Jack (played quite well by Dylan Bruno). No morally-correct individual could ever muster up even an ounce of care for Willy Jack. There could be no situation that a watcher could even feel empathy for WJ. Instead of abandoning this character just as he abandoned Novalee at Wal-mart, the writers clung onto him as if he were a saving grace to the story. This movie could've been a half-hour shorter if he were never brought up again. His wild adventures across the Midwest ! were boring, gross to watch, and served nothing other than to convince Novalee to go get her man (!!), which she could've garnered the inspiration to do so from any other garbage character in this garbage movie. Every character faced a tragic moment in this movie, which could've been fine if said moments weren't the most dramatic and incredibly depressing traumatic events a person could face. TW here. Lexie, Novalee's best friend, walked in on her children being molested by a new lover she had. Novalee lost the only mother-figure she'd ever had in a tornado. Forney's sister passed away from complications relating to her addiction that caused Forney to give up on his dreams in the first place. Once again, watchers would have a much lovelier time viewing this movie if even half of these many of these plot points were thrown out. Overall, a 1/5. Terrible writing, terribly developed characters, and a terrible plot all the way through. I could go on, but honestly I don't know if words can quite capture the atrocity this movie truly is. Happy watching !

It's an ambitious film trying to cover a lot of issues, too many. However the acting is all very good, it moves along and the ending provides a happy time. Sally Field in the short cameo was great! A lot of name talent walked through this, some hung around longer than others. It helped to make it more enjoyable.

Could've been a guilty pleasure type of film given the comedic potential the premise has along with great performers like Judd, Portman and Cusack. This film is beaten down by a poorly conceived romance/story you would find in a shallow daytime soap opera.

Like someone else said: Chick flick to the bone. Little would we know that most of the lead female cast, would be first to cast the first and perhaps heaviest stones in the upcoming Metoo-campaign... What a bummer...

It's cute and the cast is great.

Best movie of all time!!

I really liked the first half and then the second started and I wanted it to just end. Still, mostly a decent film with the amazing Natalie Portman as the lead.

This movie is very impressive. "Where The Heart Is" is depressing, but very heart-warming. Natalie Portman was great in it. I like her character a lot. It actually took me two times to watch this movie for me to realize that 5 is her unlucky number. I like this movie. One thing I don't like is there's some information that this movie hides as secrets and we never find out, even though none of them is what the movie is about. But for the most part, I think Where The Heart Is is a good movie that deserves people's attention.

Just watched it again. Love it.

It might seem a little corny at times but it stays with you. Young Natalie Portman is great, Ashley Judd and Stockard Channiing are funny and wonderful. Whenever I happen to see it on cable, I always have to stop and watch it again. The substory about Willy is a little tedious but otherwise a great movie!

This is movie is hilariously cheesy, but for some reason I wanted to watch the whole thing. Ha. Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd are great. Their performances Definitely outshine the movie itself.

Perfect Romance/Comedy Can't believe that the professional movie critics rated this movie so poorly. It's delightful. Just a very sweet, sometimes humorous, often touching story where the good people come out on top and the bad folks get what's coming to them. Never get tired of watching this gem.