Angsty Straight Teens

Rating: 2/10 (3 June 2016)

I'm personally not a fan of conventional romance movies and when I saw this was based on a book by Nicholas Sparks I was hesitant. I had never been fond of The Notebook, but after hearing people giving strong recommendations for this movie, I came into it with an open mind.
What good I can say about this movie is the actors play their parts well, Moore especially. I was blown away by her singing and she wasn't lacking in her acting ability either. The other actors were also notable, but none of them stood out like Moore did.
Thinking about it, my real problem with this movies is character development or lack thereof. Not only are the character's one-dimensional, but they all fit into a small archetypal box. We have the Christian good girl, the angsty bad boy that turns kind, the strict dad that doesn't approve of the relationship, the token black friend, the jealous ex-girlfriend, and generic teen number one, two, and three. Any development from these archetypes is half-assed and forgettable. The one eighty personally change the main character towards the beginning/middle of the movie and the underdeveloped main romance were the worst parts of this movie. As I was watching it all I could think was "where did this come from?" First, he hated her. Then he saw her looking done up and was in love. It was all too sudden for me. Most of the relationships in this movie were underdeveloped and bad (save for one, which I'll talk about soon). I feel like if the leads had better material the movie would improve drastically, but the romance is bland and predictable. Obviously a very heterosexual thing, that maybe I just don't understand? I'm not sure.
The only developed relationship in this movie is the one of Landon and his father. The scene where they hug towards the end of the movie was the most powerful scenes in the movie. I wish it was given more attention, considering it was the only interesting part of the movie.
Some tiny things I found annoying: the music and the ""subtle"" foreshadowing. The music was just bland and at one point they were playing "I Dare You to Move" and I wanted to burst out laughing, because, seriously? Also, I'm so glad they decide to hit us over the head with how Jamie was sick before they revealed it in the movie (which ended up being such an anti-climatic scene)
Overall, this movie is one boring angst fest, good for people who enjoy underdeveloped straight romances with nothing new to offer. 2/10 would not recommend