Teens, and die-hard fans of the book, might fall for this sappy junk; but everyone else will be bored!

Rating: 5/10 (22 February 2015)

'IF I STAY': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Teen melodrama flick, based on the popular YA novel (of the same name) by Gayle Forman. It tells the story of a teenager who has a major 'out-of-body experience', after being in a severe car accident, in which she must decide whether to go on living, or die; as her family did. It stars Chloe Grace Moretz, as the teen, and costars Jamie Blackley, Mireille Enos, Joshua Leonard, Liana Liberato and Stacey Keach. It was directed by R.J. Cutler and written by Shauna Cross (who also wrote the outstanding 2009 teen drama flick 'WHIP IT', and the novel it was based on). I found this movie to be pretty boring, and excessively cheesy as well.
Moretz plays Mia Hall; a teenager that's in love with classical music, and playing cello, despite the fact that her parents, Kat (Enos) and Denny (Leonard), are really into rock music; and her dad was in a mildly successful alternative rock band (when he was younger). She falls in love with a rocker from school, as fate would have it, named Adam Wilde (Blackley). Just when she's deep into making really tough and dramatic teenage decisions, about her new love life, her family is involved in a horrific car accident; and Mia falls into a coma. She then experiences life 'out-of-body' and must decide whether to keep living, or pass on; as her parents did. Mia's past life is told through flashbacks.
I like the premise of the movie, and I do like well made films adapted from young-adult novels, but this movie is just poorly made. It's way too melodramatic and badly paced; it's even excruciatingly dull at times. Both the director and the writer have made better movies than this, but they really dropped the ball here! I also like Moretz, in other films as well, but she gives a pretty unimpressive performance here too. Stacey Keach is the only person that does anything impressive, in this movie, but his part is too brief. Teens, and die-hard fans of the book, might fall for this sappy junk; but everyone else will be bored.
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