Formulaic Fiasco

Rating: Null/10 (24 September 2002)

Pop princess Mandy Moore joins the long queue of singers attempting the transition to big screen stardom in the teen tearjerker A Walk To Remember. Despite winning an MTV award for her adequate performance, A Walk To Remember promises to short-circuit Moore's cinematic ambitions in a similar fashion to Mariah Carey and the much-maligned Glitter.
Based on the allegedly best-selling novel by schmaltz-meister Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle) and directed by Adam Shankman (The Wedding Planner), A Walk To Remember is the cinematic equivalent of a midday movie but without the entertainment value offered by the television commercials. It is the type of film that treads such overly familiar narrative ground that most audiences will have accurately predicted every clichÃ©d plot twist and turn after the first ten minutes.
Mandy Moore plays Jamie Sullivan, the sickly daughter of a small town Baptist Minister (Peter Coyote in a performance that is one of the films few redeeming features). With her conservative values and unfashionable dress-sense, the bible carrying Jamie is a constant object of ridicule amongst her fellow high school students. One of her detractors is troubled teen Landon Carter (Shane West). Landon is a middle-class rebel without a cause who is mixing with a bad crowd. As to be expected, circumstances bring the two teens together and before long they share a very chaste romance, much to the disapproval of Landon's friends and Jamie's father. Inevitably, tragedy awaits the two ill-fated lovers and director Shankman launches an all out assault on the tear ducts. The final quarter of this formulaic fiasco will have audiences either reaching for their tissues or more wisely, rushing for the exits.
Aimed squarely at a young female audience, A Walk To Remember has enough saccharine sentimentality and two new Mandy Moore tunes to keep them happy. Those outside that demographic might find some entertainment from guffawing at the abominable dialogue delivered by a cast that should know better. Including the once glamorous Daryl Hannah as Landon's mother. Like many of her contemporaries, Hannah has followed the disturbing trend of overdosing on cosmetic surgery in the lip area and is currently looking eerily similar to Daffy Duck.
Overall, another film to add to the worst of 2002 list.