I got what they were trying to do but...

Rating: 6/10 (7 September 2015)

LET me start this by saying that I thought that Chloe Grace did a very good job on this film, and I quite liked the performance of the man who played her gramps as well, but the movie itself just didn't SELL it for me.
I understand that Mia Hall is in high school and it's an age when sometimes the wrong things matter the most, but I just didn't like how most of her flashbacks; how most of the things she remembered as something important and a reason to go on with her existence, centered around a BOY. I honestly just don't like that kinda message - how most of the things she thought about when she was unconscious and having an inner debate with whether or not she wanted to live was mostly about this Adam character.
I would have liked to see more about her bonding with her little brother - who's death touched me a lot - or her going shopping for old records with her mother, or her and her father doing a lot more stuff together. I would have liked to see her conversations with her best friend, them talking about things that actually matter to them (the one time I recall seeing them actually talk was about *drumroll* Adam). I would have liked to see her grandparents spoiling her rotten with cookies and old stories.
Still, romance sells. I guess.
I get what they were trying to do, but I don't think they did it how it should have been done. I haven't read the book - which I regret - but if it was as boy-centered as the movie was, I would like to know. It could have been a beautiful tale if Mia Hall was more developed of a character. If she was more...independent. I liked her little moments with the cello, but I felt like there weren't nearly enough.
It was a movie that was tolerable, and at moments very touching, but it didn't quite get THERE. -