Wrong...just WRONG!

Rating: 4/10 (10 June 2010)

I read the book prior to seeing the movie and because the book was exceptionally outstanding, I was excited to see the movie. BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER! Now I know that all movies cannot be exactly like the book or they could get really long, but you CANNOT expect to take out MAJORITY of the important details from a book and expect to movie to be good. So many details were left out. For example, Marcus basically stalked Ronnie through the book and was supposed to be the sociopath. He was in the movie once, maybe twice.
I was also very upset with the idea involving the fire in the church. In the book, Will believed Scott started the fire and continued to have him confess. However, it was brought to light that Marcus and his fireball tossing gang were responsible, thus making Ronnie forgiving of Will.
Another HUGE detail I feel that could have been included fairly simply was the fact that Ronnie's mom was actually responsible for the divorce because SHE cheated on her husband, so he left. That was not even touched on in the movie. It was just accepted that her dad was the problem
While I'm going, the wedding scene was wrong and the background of Ronnie's father was pretty much missing. His background with the priest was not in the movie, making his appearance at the end of the funeral seem so awkward and out of place.
Overall, I felt that the movie was very choppy and seemed way too rushed and because many details were ignored, it didn't make a ton of sense. I felt that the only acting that was believable was the scenes between Jonah and his dad. The one very touching part of the book that was left from the movie was the scene between Jonah and his dad in the hospital when his dad explains everything. I was crying so much while reading it and then the movie skipped from Miley blaming her dad and pouting as he is dying to her with her BF on the beach. It was very frustrating and I found Miley's acting to be less than true. I felt like the true depth of emotion that I felt in the book was missing in the movie and that Miley's reactions were abrupt and fake. Her relationship with her dad was horrible but seemed to magically fix itself with no explanation.
In the end, I left the theater extremely MAD. I was expecting to cry a lot but only cried when seeing Jonah finish the stain-glass window and at the funeral. I felt like coming home and reading the book again.
I would not recommend that you spend money to see it. If you can see it free, try not to leave part way through.