Entertainingly underwhelming

Rating: 6/10 (9 June 2009)

Teen romance with a touch of vampirism definitely has potential and at times in this movie it actually worked nicely. Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is a self-indulgent self-flagellating closed teenager, who moves to her father Charlie Swan (Billy Burke) mid-term, while her mother indulges into her second youth with her second husband. Bella might be dull, negative and basically no fun whatsoever, but school kids for some totally unknown reason flock to her.
Bella, the epicentre of teen-boy fantasies for reasons incomprehensible to the ordinary viewer, falls for the school weirdo and outsider Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). Who of course is a 'veggie' vampire. Romance with corny scenes to boot commence with a not too suspenseful finale, where Edward tries to save Bella from one of his own.
I must admit the chemistry between Bella and Edward seems to work and for the most part the movie does entertain and actually does a good job at building up the love relationship with one quite enticing kissing scene, even though we have some really over-the-top corny scenes like hair being blown by the wind or the two teen lovers lying in a field looking at each other.
The place where the movie really loses it is in the final third, when man-sucking vampires appear. It is a welcome addition to keep the story flowing, but it is handled so awkwardly and felt so rushed, that by the end credits I was vastly underwhelmed.