A well-meaning but untimately unsuccessful movie for me...

Rating: Null/10 (28 January 2002)

***warning, spoilers!!!***
After reading the book, I may have set my sights a bit too high. I understand that it's harder to make a good movie than a book, but this movie is a major disappointment, even though they should have credit for at least trying.
Knowing that it's set in the nineties instead of the fifties, I sensed that something was seriously wrong. (with so many "90s" based movies in the market, making another movie is like walking thru a minefield of cliches!!!) The opening scene was unbearable, with the rapid-fire acting you'd expect from apprentice actors. (it's okay to have smart one liners, but it just goes on too long!!! Even kids in real like don't talk so much trash at such a speed. Maybe they were struggling to get those lines over with. *hint* The black guy does something really stupid; yet another cliche.) The reason for the kids doing what they did in the first scene is never explained.
It doesn't get any better. The lead of the story, Landon Carter, who was framed for the previously mentioned stunt, GETS A LEADING ROLE IN A COMMUNITY PLAY!!! What kind of punishment is that!? There is also many many instances, when swear words never should have been used.
Of course, Carter and Jamie Sullivan get closer and closer every scene. Again, the circumstances they meet is as fake as I could imagine, involving a church choir scene where Jamie seems to be the only one that sings decently. Carter's friends, especially the black guy, crack some great lines, but most of the time they are schizophrenic (inconsistent in their personality), and in their efforts to ruin Carter's and Sullivan's "relationship", they pull off a high school prank that is lame, even by high school standards. Again, WHY THE HECK THEY SCRAP ALL THE DETAILS IN THE BOOK? This is a complete mess, although there's a moment of relief in the community play scene, when Moore, playing Sullivan, goes back to doing what she does best.
Meanwhile, the guy playing Jamie's dad is as stereotypical as hell. However he gives a surprisingly good performance when explaining to Jamie about what boys are like (he takes his time, using only one line.); that scene starting off awfully enough.
The second half of the movie are a series of scenes which seems to be borrowed from every teen movie made since the stone age. And the result is awful. Not only did I not know what was going on, (then realised nothing was going on, since those series of scenes didn't make any sense) but the line "I love you" was used like twelve times, each times decreasing in sincerity, that the very last time it was used, I heard the guy next to me just groan and cuss. The emotional equivalent for running for touchdown, even though you never had the ball in the 1st place.
To top it all off, Many Moore's performance is just outright DISGRACEFUL. She just doesn't cut it as a preacher's daughter. Maybe it was her lines. Or her lack of emotion. Maybe both. Whatever. My take is that if you're going to make a movie based on a good book, FOLLOW THE GOOD BOOK. That is a good first step. And Mandy Moore should take more ACTING CLASSES!!!
BTW for those people that say this movie is for "stupid 12-year olds", your snobiness is showing. What 12-year-olds? We know your grown-up tastes are "superior". *hint* *hint* Cut it out.