Click to read the article
Here on Earth (2000)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:65
Fresh:12
Rotten:53
Average Rating:3.8/10
Consensus: Critics say Here on Earth's weakness comes from its script. The story may appeal to young teenage girls, but it suffers from being overly sentimental and formulaic. The cinematography, however, is lovely in how it captures its Minnesota setting.
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis:
The lives of three young people -- a rich student, a girl from the "wrong side of the tracks" and her boyfriend -- unexpectedly intersect during one fateful summer in the romantic drama Here on...
The lives of three young people -- a rich student, a girl from the "wrong side of the tracks" and her boyfriend -- unexpectedly intersect during one fateful summer in the romantic drama Here on Earth.
Kelley Morse (Chris Klein), who is cocky and brash, normally would never have crossed paths with the residents of a small town near his posh private school. But when he takes his shiny new Mercedes out for a drive, he locks horns with some of the locals, including Jasper (Josh Hartnett). As Jasper's willful girlfriend Samantha (Leelee Sobieski) looks on, Kelley and Jasper engage in a dangerous car race that turns disastrous, leaving a popular diner owned by Samantha's mother in ruins.
Kelley and Jasper are sentenced to a creatively ironic but fitting punishment: They must help rebuild the diner. Not only does this ruin Kelley's summer plans, he also must board at the home of his rival, Jasper. Kelley begins to fulfill his "sentence," but refuses to have anything to do with Jasper and his parents.
When Kelley again encounters Samantha, the attraction is immediate and strong. First love blossoms in the Berkshire woods ("a little bit of heaven, here on earth," Samantha calls the pastoral setting) -- angering Jasper, who has known Samantha practically his entire life. These new feelings and the romantic triangle that develops are only the beginning of a new journey for Kelley, Samantha and Jasper, as they ultimately make life-changing discoveries about themselves and each other.
Starring: Chris Klein, Leelee Sobieski, Josh Hartnett, Bruce Greenwood
Starring: Chris Klein, Leelee Sobieski, Josh Hartnett, Bruce Greenwood, Annette O'Toole, Michael Rooker, Annie Corley, Stuart Wilson
Director: Mark Piznarski
Director: Mark Piznarski
Screenwriter: Michael Seitzman
Producer: David T. Friendly
Get This Movie
Reviews for Here on Earth
Here on Earth plods along predictably, hammering home its moral points and struggling to spin a spiritual haze around the kids' romance.
It may not be an earthshaking cinematic experience, but it does have its heart in the right place, here on earth.
Look for a crash landing as this airless, misbegotten movie sinks under the weight of a boggy, recycled tale of paths crossing on the proverbial wrong side of the tracks.
Staring thoughtfully into the middle distance, Ms. Sobieski looks as if she is already contemplating better scripts.
Michael Seitzman's screenplay is stultifyingly bad, wandering all over the place between generic, 'wrong -side- of -the- tracks' love triangles, lame romance, and emotional manipulation.
Hell on Earth might be more like it...so manipulative that a viewer can't help but feel emotionally manhandled by the time it finally lets go.
While the positive aspects of not being a 14-year-old girl definitely beat the negative, there would be one short-term asset: It would probably make it a whole lot easier to appreciate Here On Earth.
The filmmakers cobbled together so many predictable set pieces and plot developments that you don't even need to see the movie to know what happens.
All in all, Here on Earth is yet another movie that proves that a good script really isn't necessary to have a good movie.
If you haven't seen Klein's charming dodo-head athlete in Election or Sobieski's sympathetic hooker in Eyes Wide Shut, you won't know just how ignominiously both have fallen in Here on Earth.
Three appealing performers are lumbered with material that doesn't measure up to them in Here on Earth.
Chris Klein began his acting career when he was discovered in high school, and his technique has not yet caught up with his career (or his abdominal muscles).
It's hard to think of any recent film that features more ridiculous, cornball dialogue.
Here On Earth manages to hit enough right notes and overcome most of its deficiencies to earn a passing grade.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 77% 77% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 82% 82% | Paranormal Activity |
| 58% 58% | 9 |
| 44% 44% | Jennifer's Body |
| 58% 58% | A Perfect Getaway |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- Here on Earth at Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh Links
Featured

Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!

Here's a list of the 50 best movies of 2009, according to the good people over at Moviefone.

Hollywood.com takes a stab at determining who in movies will be on Santa's naughty list in 2009.

TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic



