The Plot of Somewhere:
Being a famous movie star has it’s perks, lots of money, fast fancy cars, faster beautiful women, and being followed by fans and fans alike. This is the life that current in-actor Johnny Marco (played by Stephen Dorff) has because of his acting career. Though he can get any woman he wants, is loved wherever he goes, and seems to have the world in his hands, he is also becoming used to it all to the point that it no longer has any luster for him. As the days and weeks pass by him in a daze, Johnny Marco is unprepared for having his 11-year-old daughter come stay with him. Now that Cleo (played by Elle Fanning) is staying with her father before she goes to camp, she is able to show Johnny Marco that his life of fast everything might not be what he actually wants.

My Take on Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere:
‘Somewhere’ has a good idea for a plot, showing the life of a famous actor that has everything but just don’t like it. Which it ends up not doing, but it’s still a good idea anyways. This movie ends up taking way too long getting anywhere and by the time it does it’s too late and the movie is over. Where this famous actor is supposed to be numb to the life he leads he sure seems to like it a lot. It also don’t seem like he is numb to it at all.
There is one scene in particular where he is in the company of 2 girls and he falls asleep which shows how he is becoming numb and one other instance with the similar outcome of him falling asleep, but for the rest of the movie it don’t look like he has any problems. What’s being shown more was that his life was almost like anyone else that’s single, just with the side effect of being famous and rich. When the character of Johnny Marco is not out doing the movie star thing, he just sits around his place at a hotel watching tv, playing games, and hanging out with a friend like anyone else would.

This is the story that I liked more than him being melancholy with his movie star life. It’s the idea of him just sitting around eating some poorly made spaghetti that he had to make himself alone at his table. An aspect of the famous movie star life that no one would think they would have because all that’s seen is that side with the money, sex, and drugs.
Though when his daughter Cleo is involved with his life it just seems like he’s just as numb to her as he is to his famous life. I wasn’t feeling the idea of this 11-year-old girl turning the life of a famous actor upside down to where he has to re-evaluate his life. The friend to Johnny Marco seems more interested in the life of Cleo than Johnny is. And how she changes his life and makes him see it differently, I still don’t know what it was that she did. It just seems like one moment he’s this famous actor going from woman to woman to this guy sitting at the edge of his bed needing to talk to someone.

 What I Liked About Somewhere:
There’s some decent cinematography done here in ‘Somewhere’ that keeps the look of it interesting. Nothing too spectacular or breaking edge but there’s enough here to make this movie have a look that’s above the average look. Also, for some reason the movie had me staying interested in it though it was moving really slow.
Though what I liked the most was that idea of this famous actor just going about his day like it was just something that was happening. Get up, go to work, go home, eat, and then to a party, just a lot more lavish than what most people get to have. Acting in it was done well on both Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning but it’s Fanning that ends up taking the scenes when she’s on camera. Though Dorff does a good job at showing this actor that’s just zombie walking through his days, it’s the portrayal of a little girl whose parents are separated and she just wants to have them be there for her.

What I Didn’t Like About Somewhere:
Pacing of ‘Somewhere’ is just way too slow for my taste. I liked the idea of the movie, the acting, and how it looked, it just takes too long for it all to happen. Showing how the character of Marco is numb with his lavish lifestyle could be done within 15 minutes of the movie, not the first hour of it. There’s really no reason for there to be so much time taken up showing Marco just going throughout his days and then just at the end changing his way of life.
Though the speed of the movie shouldn’t be increased, having less of the same story line of the bored actor and showing more interaction between the daughter and father would make ‘Somewhere’ a whole lot better. I would have also liked to have seen more of what it was that was making Marco not like his lifestyle as much as he used to. Was it because too much of a good thing is not good? If so what was that good thing? It just seems to be an unsaid thing here in this movie that he don’t like his life but I didn’t see a reason why he was numb with it. ‘Somewhere’ seems to just have one really long beginning, very short middle that’s at the end, and then a quick ending that left me wondering what kind of ending it really was.