Miley Cyrus or Nicholas Sparks...

Rating: 3/10 (8 April 2010)

I don't know who to complain about more. I saw this movie just for fun, not expecting anything wonderful. But I didn't realize it would be absolutely horrendous. And it wasn't just one element of the movie that was horrible; it wasn't just the acting, directing, or writing. It was a combination of all those factors. The screenplay was clichéd from the start. Ronnie, more of a brat than a troubled teen, reluctantly arrives at her dad's house along with her overenthusiastic little brother. Their divorced parents talk, "We hurt them, you know." Ronnie walks down to the beach with a pout on her face, "My dad made me come down here for the summer - not like I wanna be here." She runs into a hot local guy, who for some strange reason takes an interest in her, despite her attitude. It's already something any 15- year-old who wanted to write a book or a screenplay could think of on their own.
Then, of course, there are little subplots. The baby turtles - I left the theater to go get a snack, that scene was getting too dumb - the friend who doesn't want to put up with domestic violence but has nowhere else to stay; the return to piano playing. Besides all of this, we have a girl who decides she's in love with a sweet, rich boy who's too ideal for real life - he helps the environment, works as a mechanic, is a volleyball star, lives in a huge mansion, accepted to Columbia but bound for Vanderbilt in the tradition of his family. Of course, Ronnie decides she's "in love" with Will after only a week of dating him.
The next twist in the story comes when the dad (Greg Kinnear was the best actor in the movie) collapses and is rushed to the hospital. Ronnie, bitch that she is, becomes angry at her dad for lying about his disease rather than supporting him. But she reconciles with him soon enough. Now this is a complete 180 from where the girl was at the beginning of the summer. Of course, a person completely changes in one summer - classic story.
This movie has two plot formulas: two family members who are half a step from estranged becoming gradually closer; and a girl meeting a boy, hating him, liking him, getting angry at him, breaking up with him, and getting back with him. Two formulas mixed together.
All right, so this is a very formulaic movie, you get it. But, as I said before, that's not the only thing wrong with it. Miley Cyrus is very disappointing as an actress. Not that I think she's so talented to begin with, but I thought she might have stepped it up a bit now that she's leaving behind Disney stuff for "serious" movies. I was so wrong. She acted like her character in "Hannah Montana:" a brat with a sarcastic sense of humor. Her expressions during her dad's death (horrible scene anyway) and funeral made the saddest scenes amusing. She really has to take her acting to the next level if she wants to be taken seriously - or maybe she doesn't have the potential. Either way, her acting was barely mediocre in most parts of this movie. But, if you don't care about the bad acting, inexperienced directing, or cliché screenplay, by all means, watch it.