Rating- * * * (3/5)
Before you read the rest of this review, I want to make it clear that I pondered for a long time whether to make this a 2 or a 3 in my ratings so consider it a kind of 2½ out of 5. The reason for my struggle was over the extreme cheesiness in the last half of the movie. Normally, this would lead me to immediately label it as a typical sad teen drama but there is something unique and refreshing about the first half of the film that leads me to believe otherwise. Based on a novel by Nicolas Sparks, widely known for his melodramatic, tragic love stories, A Walk to Remember stars Shane West as a troubled teen and Mandy Moore as a quiet outcast. When West and Moore both join the cast of the school play, the unlikely couple begin to fall in love. Their relationship is complicated by West’s close-minded friends, Moore’s preacher father and another unforeseeable plot twist that I won’t reveal. Up until this point the film is an atypically sweet and kind-hearted teen love story. It is refreshing to see a teen love story that doesn’t involve objectifying or humiliating either of the characters and amazingly involves no premarital sex. The characters are deeper than the traditional teen drama characters and the love they have for each other is genuine and not purely sexual. Like I said, up until this point in the film it has been a very sweet, genuine love story without all the drawbacks of a normal teen drama. Unfortunately, once it hits the ending it starts to fall back into the realm of the cliché. I can’t describe specifically what I mean because it would ruin the story for you but it involves some actions and reactions that are totally unrealistic and out of character with the rest of the movie. They are clearly designed as tearjerker devices to send all of the teenage girls in the audience into hysterical crying fits thus leading them to believe they must have seen a fantastic film. This is unfortunate because the movie would be quite good without this melodramatic ending. Overall though, the ending may be somewhat forgivable because of the high quality of the rest of the film and this is a step above most chick flicks. I would recommend this film to all of the female race, or at least those who love romance. I would also recommend this one to boyfriends looking for a good date movie because this is one that won’t be too offensive for the girl but isn’t so cheesy that you won’t be able to stand it.