The life of an actor isn’t always as glamorous as you might think. In fact, sometimes, it gets pretty damn lonely. That’s the driving message behind Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere”, a movie that nearly went undetected when it was release in 2010 but may be something of an underrated gem. Both of the leads give strong performances but the movie does suffer a bit from a lack of real drama.

“Somewhere”, starring Stephen Dorff (Blade) and Elle Fanning (Super 8), follows Dorff, who plays an actor named Johnny Marco. Johnny has a lot of Hollywood friends, meaning he has friends who like him because he’s an actor. He rarely spends a night alone, usually in the company of a hot little blonde– sometimes two. He also has a daughter, who he doesn’t have much of a relationship with. Johnny is lonely. For most of the film he wanders aimlessly from press conference to photo shoot to party to party.

Life happens to him. He never really seems to care about anyone or anything going on around him. His life changes, when his daughter, Cleo, played by Fanning, is left on his door step. His ex (wife or girlfriend, it never really says) has decided she needs some time to herself. So Johnny is forced to drag Cleo along with him to help promote his new movie, something called “Berlin Agenda”. During a trip to Italy he begins to understand that maybe his life does have meaning after all.

“Somewhere” isn’t a particularly great movie nor is it a bad movie. It falls pretty much right in the middle. It’s nice to see Dorff play a character that is likable, which he is, at least by the end of the movie. The problem is the movie is so slowly paced that you’re constantly waiting for something dramatic to happen, which unfortunately it never does.

If you’ve ever had an estranged relationship with a child, you may be able to identify with Johnny and Cleo, but you never really feel bad for him, because, the dude has a pretty good life. In the end, “Somewhere” goes nowhere and that’s a shame because this movie comes very close to being great. Dorff continues to be a strong actor in movies that underperform. Fanning, the younger acting sibling, may very well be the more talented but this movie never gives her a chance to truly stretch that talent.

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