Considering...

Rating: 5/10 (1 April 2010)

I'll be honest with other movie-goers: my college friends and I elected to see this movie during a girls night out, if only "ironically," you know, to see a potentially bad movie and laugh at it. Clearly, 80% of the audience crammed in the theater with us was there for the same reason.
I was pleasantly surprised.
I've never been a Miley Cyrus fan because I feel like she's a poor singer riding on the coattails of her father whilst her family pushes her heavily from behind.
All in all, I've seen more terrible movies.
I never read the actual book and for this I apologize, but be aware I'm grading this movie as precisely that: a film.
The acting was sitting somewhere between Disney channel and Oscar award-winning: not terrible but not fantastic. There were certain moments when I cringed and thought "really, director? you couldn't fix that?" But there were also moments when I was pleasantly surprised.
Note to the audience: Miley Cyrus isn't incredible, but the boy who played her little brother was and Greg Kinnear, as per usual, was quiet awesome. Kelly Preston wasn't great but, when remembering that the filming of this movie fell somewhere near the death of her sweet son, she was fine; god bless the Travolta/Preston family.
The relationship between Miley and her on/off-screen boyfriend was rushed; my friends and I were aghast by some of their actions because we couldn't tell how much time had passed since the beginning of their relationship and, we wondered, "isn't it a little soon for this?"
The emotional element of this movie was pivotal, as it is with most Nicolas Sparks book-to- screen projects. Miley Cyrus got better as the movie progressed but still didn't quite reach the level that Rachael McAdams did in "The Notebook." Not to compare actresses, but Nicolas Sparks is, in and of himself, a completely different genre of "love movie."
I felt as though the subject of Ronnie's college attendance wasn't addressed aggressively enough; the movie makes several mentions of it but suddenly she makes a big decision that didn't seem contextual enough.
On a completely rude note, this film was too dramatic and emo for me; I understand if that might be book related, but I just don't think it was; in the past, Mr. Sparks has wanted the audience to connect with him, not feel battered by emotional waves. i thought this movie was predictable and emo; that's not necessarily bad, but there it was.
If you want a good romp through summer romance off your cuff, this movie is quite suitable. If you want to see Greg Kinnear highlighted like the star he is and sent to the Oscars for recognition, this is not it. People who love the metaphorical and subtle essence of film: look elsewhere. Good night with your girlfriends? Checkmate.