Mandy Moore is Sweet

Rating: 7/10 (19 March 2008)

Basically the only reason people saw this was to see Mandy Moore in her debut performance. The popular teen pop star was put to the test to provide a decent performance in a romance movie loosely based on the bestseller by Nicholas Sparks (it's a great book, highly recommended). And to everyone's surprise, she's actually quite good. A lot better than most modern teen actresses in fact. The movie is a bit overly saccharine with it's teeny bopper appeal, but the romance that blossoms between her character Jamie and the bad boy at school Landon (a touching performance by Shane West) is believable and heartbreaking. Of course there's a catch. Even though everything seems to be great because a barrier between popular and unpopular is broken with their love, it turns out that Jamie only has a short amount of time to live- she's dying of Leukemia. The movie becomes unbearably sad but Moore and West carry it perfectly, with heartfelt performances in a truly convincing manner. I guarantee you'll cry by the end of this, and if you don't you'll at least appreciate the sweetness and purpose of the film.