A Movie to Remember

Last night I felt the need to watch a cheesy romantic drama that I haven’t watched since I was an awkward 8th grader with braces: A Walk to Remember. As a 14 year old I thought this was the most amazing love story I had ever seen. With a beautiful cast (Mandy Moore and Shane West), and cute romantic lines, how could I not like it? After seeing the movie now, as a 17 year old though, I must say that I find the movie slightly less impressing and a little outrageous.

A Walk to Remember was based on Nicholas Sparks’ best selling novel. Like most books turned movies, there is a challenge to find the balance between keeping the movie true to the book and also adding a touch of Hollywood to it. I’m not so sure it succeeded. There were moments when I was watching that I was reminded that they were just reading a script (I don’t know if ya’ll know what I’m talking about. Like in good movies you get totally caught up in the characters and believe everything they say. But in this movie I could tell by the awkwardness of lines that they were a little forced). Lines like, “Promise you won’t fall in love with me” made me seriously laugh out loud. If I was Landon (Shane West) I would have laughed hysterically and gone running in the other directions. I cannot imagine any real girl saying that to a guy. Also, Landon (West) told Jamie (Moore) that he loved her ON THE FIRST DATE. No special effects or good direction could have made me believe that. The acting was not up to par either. I think Mandy Moore really over exaggerated her character and I don’t think Shane West ever got a handle on what he was supposed to be.

There was no breathtaking cinematography or crazy special effects. It was basically just shots of their school and houses with a few random dramatic landscapes inserted in the middle.

And of course, the love story. The more I watched it the more I realized how crazy it was that Jamie and Landon fell in love. The two seriously had nothing in common. I know that was the basic premise of the story but they really had NOTHING going for them. I don’t know what they even talked about as a couple. All she would be able to do is quote the Bible and he would just talk about the last time he got drunk. But I think that the absurdity of it all made me want to watch it even more. It was so unlikely but it made me want to believe it could really happen. So basically what I’m saying is the movie was kind of really bad in technical terms but I will always be a loyal fan.

-Alyce Thibodeaux