The first one out of the gate is Chasing Liberty. Mandy Moore plays Anna Foster, daughter of President James Foster (Mark Harmon). She is wary of always having to be trailed around by the Secret Service, especially after they ruin her date with, like, a really cute boy she thinks is, like, totally cool and stuff. Anna begs her parents to let her travel to Europe by herself so she can experience life to its fullest. President Foster makes her a deal: she can go without the usual contingent of bodyguards, but two agents – Weiss (Jeremy Piven) and Morales (Annabella Sciorra) – will go along and keep a distance.

Anna agrees to the plan, but on her first night in Europe, she discovers that her father has broken his promise, assigning multiple agents to trail her. A furious Anna decides to give them all the slip. She runs out of a nightclub and hitches a scooter ride from a stranger named Ben (Matthew Goode). She is unaware that he’s a British Secret Service agent also assigned to watch out her. (How convenient, then, that he is the exact stranger she seeks help from.) When President Foster learns that Anna has run off with Ben, he decides to give her a taste of “controlled freedom.” He tells Ben to show Anna around and make her feel like she has pulled off her little stunt. Ben agrees to do this somewhat reluctantly. Over the next few days, of course, he and Anna begin to fall madly in love with each other, which makes him feel guilty about his deception.

But you knew that already, didn’t you? That’s the problem with Chasing Liberty - it’s all so obvious. The whole plot about romantic deception has been done a million times (While You Were Sleeping, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and Deliver Us From Eva come immediately to mind). There’s nothing in this story that hasn’t already been done to death. We just sit there, at least five or ten steps ahead of the characters. There’s even a scene mid-way through the movie in which Anna and Ben talk about how “it’s sometimes okay to lie.” This moment clearly paves the way for her to forgive him in the end. Had she asserted that lying was always wrong and unforgivable, it might have actually created some tension.

There are a number other predictable things in the picture, some of them unintentionally funny. For example, Anna spends a lot of time asserting that she can take care of herself, even though Ben gets her out of one jam after another. When she discovers his lie, she storms off and is almost instantly attacked by a group of street thugs. Guess who comes to her rescue? This is a perfect example of “plot manipulation.” Chasing Liberty has plenty more.

The total familiarity of the plot wore on my nerves, especially since the movie could have been better than it is. Mandy Moore has proven herself a winning young actress. Her weepie A Walk to Remember overcame similar plot manipulations by being so well acted and staged. Newcomer Matthew Goode is also likable. He has a gravity that suggests he could do a lot better than co-starring in fluff such as this. If these two appealing stars had been given more to work with, the film as a whole could have been worth recommending. But the comedy isn’t funny, the romance feels forced, and the plot grinds forward in a predictable manner.

I have said nothing about the burgeoning romance between Weiss and Morales, which really has nothing whatsoever to do with the main story being told. Or the fact that Anna’s status as the President’s daughter is almost irrelevant to the plot after the first fifteen minutes (she could have been any rebellious teen and the movie would have been virtually the same). Or that Mark Harmon makes one of the least believable American presidents in film history. All of these things conspire to drag the film down.

To be fair, I will say this: Chasing Liberty may be enjoyable for teenage girls (admittedly its target audience). Any adult will plainly see that the screenplay depicts Anna’s quest for “freedom” in a shallow and overdramatic manner. Adolescent girls – who, let’s face it, can often be melodramatic anyway – might actually relate to it in a wish-fulfillment kind of way.

Personally, I’m hoping this spring’s First Daughter (with Katie Holmes in the lead role) pulls the concept off much more effectively.

( out of four)

Chasing Liberty is rated PG-13 for sexual content and brief nudity. The running time is 1 hour and 51 minutes.