# Chasing Liberty
*Chasing Liberty* is a 2004 American-British romantic comedy directed by Andy Cadiff, starring [Mandy Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/mandy-moore) as Anna Foster, the teenage daughter of the [President of the United States](https://www.edgepedia.org/president-of-the-united-states), who escapes her Secret Service detail in Prague and travels across Europe with a British stranger, Ben Calder ([Matthew Goode](https://www.edgepedia.org/matthew-goode)), who is secretly an agent assigned to watch her.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty) It was written by Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman, produced by David Parfitt, Broderick Johnson, and Andrew A. Kosove for Alcon Entertainment, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63013-CHASING-LIBERTY)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Wide theatrical release January 9, 2004, distributed by Warner Bros.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty) |
| Cast | Mandy Moore (Anna Foster), Matthew Goode (Ben Calder), Mark Harmon (President James Foster), Jeremy Piven (Alan Weiss), Annabella Sciorra (Cynthia Morales), Caroline Goodall (Michelle Foster)[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty) |
| Box office | $12,189,514 domestic, $12,291,975 worldwide, against a $23,000,000 production budget[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Chasing-Liberty) |
| Opening weekend | $6,081,483 in 2,400 theaters, 49.9% of the total domestic gross[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Chasing-Liberty) |
| Critical reception | 19% on the Tomatometer (115 reviews); Metascore 46 from 32 critic reviews[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/chasing-liberty/critic-reviews/) |
| Audience reception | 60% on the Popcornmeter from more than 50,000 ratings; 6.1/10 on IMDb[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty) • [5](https://moviesranking.com/film/tt0360139-chasing-liberty-2004) |
| Rating and runtime | PG-13 (sexual content, brief nudity); listed at 110 minutes by the AFI Catalog and 111 minutes by The Numbers[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63013-CHASING-LIBERTY) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Chasing-Liberty) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Anna Foster, code-named "Liberty," is the 18-year-old daughter of President James Foster ([Mark Harmon](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-harmon)). Her dating life is impossible because Secret Service agents follow her everywhere. Accompanying her father on a state visit to Prague, she extracts a promise of a night alone, unescorted; when her father reneges, she slips out of a nightclub and escapes on the back of a motorcycle driven by Ben Calder (Matthew Goode). The two embark on a romantic journey across Europe, unaware to Anna that Ben is himself a Secret Service agent, working undercover on her father's orders.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty) • [6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/chasing-liberty-2004) • [7](https://filmcommission.gov.cz/en/film/chasing-liberty/)
A secondary romance runs through the chase: two Secret Service agents, Alan Weiss ([Jeremy Piven](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeremy-piven)) and Cynthia Morales ([Annabella Sciorra](https://www.edgepedia.org/annabella-sciorra)), pursue the runaway pair while falling for each other.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty) The supporting cast includes [Stark Sands](https://www.edgepedia.org/stark-sands) as Grant Hillman and Caroline Goodall as First Lady Michelle Foster.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty)
## Production
The film was shot in 2003 in Prague, using [Barrandov Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/barrandov-studios), the Old Town, Hradcany, and the main railway station as locations, with the Czech company Etic Films serving as the local production company.[7](https://filmcommission.gov.cz/en/film/chasing-liberty/) Ashley Rowe was the cinematographer, Jon Gregory the editor, and Martin Childs the production designer.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63013-CHASING-LIBERTY) Production companies besides Alcon included Trademark Films, C.R.G. International, and Micro Fusion 2003-2.[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/chasing-liberty/)
According to a New Yorker cultural commentary, the screenwriters said they were inspired by watching [Chelsea Clinton](https://www.edgepedia.org/chelsea-clinton) try to ignore photographers at a Stanford basketball game, and perhaps also by Jenna Bush's reported ability to dodge her Secret Service protection.[9](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/ivanka-trump-and-the-ways-that-we-imagine-first-daughters)
## Reception
**Critical response was negative to mixed.** On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 19% Tomatometer from 115 reviews, with the critics consensus "Formulaic comfort food for the teen crowd."[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty) Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 46, labeled "Mixed or Average," based on 32 reviews: 7 positive, 20 mixed, and 5 negative.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/chasing-liberty/critic-reviews/)
Reviewers repeatedly compared the film to [William Wyler](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-wyler)'s *Roman Holiday*; [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hollywood-reporter) called it "essentially a teenage rendition" of that film, and the New Yorker described it as "a wacky teen version of *Roman Holiday*."[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/chasing-liberty/critic-reviews/) • [9](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/ivanka-trump-and-the-ways-that-we-imagine-first-daughters) The most favorable reviews came from the [Chicago Tribune](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-tribune) (75), which called it "a likable, light-as-air road comedy," and the San Francisco Chronicle (75), which praised the film for not playing cute with its premise.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/chasing-liberty/critic-reviews/) Roger Ebert, the longtime Chicago Sun-Times critic, wrote that the film is "surprisingly good in areas where it doesn't need to be good at all, and pretty awful in areas where it has to succeed."
**Audience scores ran well ahead of the critics'.** The Popcornmeter stood at 60% from more than 50,000 user ratings, averaging 3.5 out of 5.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty) IMDb users gave it 6.1/10 from more than 42,000 ratings, and [Letterboxd](https://www.edgepedia.org/letterboxd) users 2.93 out of 5.[5](https://moviesranking.com/film/tt0360139-chasing-liberty-2004)
## Box office
The film opened in seventh place over the weekend of January 9, 2004, grossing $6,081,483 from 2,400 theaters. Receipts fell 54% in the second weekend and 76% in the third, and the film finished its eight-week run with a domestic total of $12,189,514.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Chasing-Liberty) International grosses were minimal: $102,461 by The Numbers' count, giving a domestic share of 99.2%.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Chasing-Liberty) [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) reports slightly different totals, $12,195,626 domestic and $12,313,323 worldwide.[10](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0360139/) Against a production budget of $23,000,000, worldwide box office covered about half the production cost.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Chasing-Liberty)
## Context among 2004 first-daughter films
*Chasing Liberty* was the first of two similarly themed 2004 films about the President's daughter. Nine months later came *First Daughter*, starring [Katie Holmes](https://www.edgepedia.org/katie-holmes) and directed, as the New Yorker notes, oddly, by Forest Whitaker; the same piece judges *Chasing Liberty* "a lot better" than its successor.[9](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/ivanka-trump-and-the-ways-that-we-imagine-first-daughters) A Dark Horizons review likewise described the film as "a teen American redux of *Roman Holiday*" and the first of the two projects about the dating life of the President's daughter.[11](https://www.darkhorizons.com/review-chasing-liberty/) The film has since retained a modest audience following as an early-2000s romantic comedy, with home-video and digital availability through services such as Apple TV, Prime Video, and YouTube.[12](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/chasing-liberty/17050/showtimes/)
## References
1. [Chasing Liberty, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_liberty)
2. [Chasing Liberty (2004), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63013-CHASING-LIBERTY)
3. [Chasing Liberty (2004), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Chasing-Liberty)
4. [Chasing Liberty Critic Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/chasing-liberty/critic-reviews/)
5. [Chasing Liberty (2004), The Film Index](https://moviesranking.com/film/tt0360139-chasing-liberty-2004)
6. [Chasing Liberty movie review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/chasing-liberty-2004)
7. [Chasing Liberty, Czech Film Commission](https://filmcommission.gov.cz/en/film/chasing-liberty/)
8. [Chasing Liberty Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/chasing-liberty/)
9. [Ivanka Trump and the Ways That We Imagine First Daughters, The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/ivanka-trump-and-the-ways-that-we-imagine-first-daughters)
10. [Chasing Liberty, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0360139/)
11. [Review: Chasing Liberty, Dark Horizons](https://www.darkhorizons.com/review-chasing-liberty/)
12. [Chasing Liberty (2004) Showtimes & Tickets, Moviefone](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/chasing-liberty/17050/showtimes/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2003 to 2004 › Titles 1 to L*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license