Enjoyable for what it aims to do

Rating: 9/10 (2 October 2012)

I subscribe to Ebert's approach to film reviewing: does the film achieve the goals it sets out to accomplish within its own genre? Sure, Nicholas Sparks's plots are never going to wow anyone with their originality and unpredictability, but they're not trying to. He specializes in writing small family dramas with characters that bear some resemblance to real human beings and that endure tearjerker events. Nothing groundbreaking. The question is: does The Last Song work on this level?
Unabashedly, yes. Miley Cyrus does a fine job of making me believe she's a pouty, hurt, self-centered teenager who at least has some sense of self-confidence amidst all her character's immaturity. Sometimes her character does frustratingly immature things, but at least they were in-character. She struck believable notes. There were never any off moments where a lack of acting skill on her part threw me out of the story. Of course, I don't have a history of following her work, so I just took her performance at face value.
Liam Hemsworth did a fine job too. He's got the unfortunate handicap of being so ridiculously good-looking that my first reaction upon seeing him was to laugh in disbelief. Assuming that we can get past that and give him a chance, he made me believe in his character, as well. Again, no off moments that threw me out of the story. (Although there was one scene involving him shirtless and some mutual hosing down that felt utterly gratuitous and annoyed me, but I'm blaming that on the director, not the actors. They did their best not to make that scene seem as barely-plausible as it was.) The scene where Ronnie breaks up with him was particularly well played on his part; his desire to hold her and restore the relationship was so evident and made me ache for his character. His motivations made perfect sense to me. Although I understood Ronnie's motivation and her childish desire to lash out, the breakup unfortunately hit the teen-melodrama button a little too hard and felt a little to mechanical for the plot. Again, the actors did a fine job of trying to make it feel believable and not just formulaic.
Greg Kinnear was excellent, providing a nice, steady, mature background to the teen drama. His performance never felt forced or cloying. He was believable as a slightly out-of-touch, frustrated, but loving father to his two children. His responses felt real and I cared about his character. I ached for his relationship with his daughter to be restored. Nice job on his part.
Bobby Coleman was unexpectedly fantastic! The first time I started to well up was when his character was working on the stained-glass window alone. Phenomenal job from so young a boy! I remember feeling like that as a child and he *nailed* that scene! He was good throughout, but he went from cute younger brother with the usual comedic notes to a real character at that point. He easily stole the scene from the two older actors.
So: for what this movie tried to do, I think it succeeded admirably. Yes, it's not art-house Oscar-bait, but it's not trying to be. If you let yourself settle down, forget your Miley Cyrus baggage, and enjoy this small-family, small-town, everyday-life (except needing to suspend disbelief regarding Hemsworth's appearance :) story, you'll be glad you did.