Sugar-coated dreck

Rating: 2/10 (24 December 2004)

About the only thing I came away with that I could stand was Ms. Moore's song "Only Hope," a pretty song that tapped my sentimental streak. Nothing else tapped it, though the movie tried mightily with a series of tearjerker clichés. Guess I'm tired of seeing beautiful young women dying of some wasting disease that doesn't go much deeper than hollowed eyes. Landon Carter (such a cool name) turns from bad boy to furrowed- brow earnest--and the message is that not getting any from the pure but dying Janey Sullivan is what causes this transformation. And because we all know where the movie is heading, the story requires an improbable twist that temporarily divides Landon from Janie--just so we'll stay in our seats and see how they work it out in the end. Not whether, mind you, because whether is too painful apparently for viewers. Even the protestant Christian layer of the story aims not to hurt--faith is equated with solace. I suppose it is, or can be, for some, but doubts and arguments about god often accompany faith, though you'd never know from their "walk to remember."