A surprisingly good teen movie, but not without its flaws.

Rating: 8/10 (1 April 2003)

Like most guys I probably wouldn't have been caught dead watching A Walk to Remember at theaters or renting it without a date (perhaps even with one). But thanks to nine channels of HBO and one long, boring night I stumbled on what turned out to be a surprisingly solid and inspiring presentation about a popular rebel teen (Shane West) who is changed by his experiences (read PG movie) with the Reverend's "less than socially desirable" daughter (Mandy Moore).
Moore's acting is amazingly convincing, near flawless, which came as a huge shock to me because I was prepared to laugh at it from the very beginning. West's performance is also excellent, although his acting in the later half of the movie outshines the earlier, possibly due to the fact that his involvement with the supporting cast of his clique lessens as the movie progresses. It is hard to distinguish whether his group of friends seems unconvincing at times because of sub-par acting or poor "in-crowd" scripting.
The book is set in 1957 but the movie takes place in some indistinguishable decade in the later 20th century. And whoever was responsible for this theme, which involved vintage cars, clothing, wall decor and other props (black and white television programming), almost pulled it off perfectly. But then there is a small scene where students use Adobe Photoshop on a computer that removed this sense of timeless past generation blending that, until then, had been achieved and greatly narrows down the time frame that this movie could have taken place during.
Overall, despite any shortcomings (and there are still a few I have not touched on), this movie delivers an convincing emotional performance and a return to innocence that can be unexpectedly refreshing. (8/10)