Date Released: 01/25/2002
Rated: PG (thematic elements, language and some sensual material)
Film Length: 115 Minutes
Produced by: Denise Di Novi, Hunt Lowry
Directed by: Adam Shankman
Cast: Mandy Moore, Shane West, Peter Coyote, Daryl Hannah Distributor: Warner Brothers
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Ah, the rites of passage regarding young love can be so complicated yet poignantly stated. However, in director Adam Shankman's manipulative melodrama "A Walk to Remember", this drivel tries to pass off the hokey display of adolescent passion as something earnest and heart-warming. But all Karen Janszen's screenplay and Shankman's pedestrian direction manages to do is deliver a sappy small-town romance that has all the charm of a leaky waterbed.
Based on the novel by author Nicholas Sparks, "A Walk to Remember" tries to present this unconventional love story of teen angst as a sophisticated and sainted offering meant to put some sincerity in the teen romantic genre. But the film surrenders to its own drippy sentimentality. Shankman's futile attempts to instill various degrees of emotional baggage (a picturesque local, untested young love, the idealism of togetherness, faith and hope, the dreaded ailment factor that ensures the sympathy vote, redemption, etc.) feels like a banal juggling act meant to tap into the senses. "A Walk to Remember" is cinematic syrup that you can definitely pour all over your pancakes.
The heartstrings are relentlessly tugged at when we are introduced to the serene surroundings of a scenic North Carolina town during the mid 1990's. There, we meet the eventual youthful star-crossed lovers Jamie Sullivan (singing sensation Mandy Moore) and Landon Carter (Shane West from ABC-TV's family drama "Once and Again"). Jamie happens to be the quiet "Plain Jane" daughter of the town's minister--the Reverend Sullivan (Peter Coyote). And Landon is the celebrated wise-acre high school senior who wears his studmuffin label with ease.
The fellow students ridicule Jamie because she's considered a goody two shoes oddity. She does things so "uncool" that the other kids bask in her "strangeness". For instance, she's not particularly flashy in the wardrobe department--her ubiquitous sweater that she wears pretty much serves as the constant ribbing she receives. Jamie also is a voracious reader, preferring a good book to the clueless morons around her. Basically, she's an open target but she's willing to develop a tough skin in spite of all the harrassment. Poor Jamie.
In the meanwhile, rabblerouser Landon has his own alienation to deal with but from a different angle. When Landon is caught red-handed concerning an ominous hazing stunt, he's disciplined by performing some community service. And get this...he must also appear in the school musical as the male lead. Huh? Gee, talking about putting the tough screws to this hotshot! That'll teach this guy to mess around--let's make him uncomfortable by appearing in a school-oriented production. This will certainly reform him, right?
Predictably, both Jamie and Landon are bound together thanks to the lead roles they must take on in this musical project. Landon fights his attraction for the dour Jamie at first but his unexplainable craving for this unlikely "desirable" gal is overwhelming. Landon's liking of Jamie escalates into love. Jamie warns Landon "not to fall in love with her" but inevitably, both reluctant sweethearts ignore the signals and end up trading tongue in the process.
"A Walk to Remember" is mildly effective when the narrative concentrates on the cruelty aspect of the mean world caving in on a sweet girl trying to do the right things that her peers consider "weird". Shankman ("The Wedding Planner") does capture the essence of his protagonist Jamie Sullivan's personal struggles and even gives her a resistance that makes all the crap she goes through feel genuine and refreshingly distinctive. But when the script bluntly drops the ball and allows for the awkward connection of Moore and West's characters to realize their affection for one another, the set up to these circumstances feel deliberately forced and conclusive long before the film can register the lovebirds' discovered feelings. The silly, stilted dialogue and the "Misunderstood Plain-Looking Gal Who Is Really A Knockout Underneath" story arc feels so achingly familiar. Basically, this is a level-headed and low key version of the Freddie Prinze Jr. vehicle "She's All That", but without the romp.
Moore, for the most part, is surprisingly in touch with her characterization of the tortured Jamie despite the wildly inane, wistful material that she's handed to perform in. The film wisely utilizes her penchant for singing in the movie and she portrays a young gal that could have easily fell sorry for herself in the adversity of her mean-spirited colleagues. Some may not buy the fact that Moore is this pleasingly righteous outcast with average looks because she still unintentionally exudes a sexuality that hinders the believability of her so-called "plainness". West, who pales in comparison to Moore's spunky and subtle dysfunction, is needlessly mechanical and questionable as the badboy who reforms into the redemptive suitor who realizes that there's more to Jamie than her drab exterior. And as the single parents of the youthful loving couple, Coyote's turn as Jamie's preacher father and Daryl Hannah's stretch as Landon's mother is merely a footnote to remind us how incomplete the kids really are in their personal lives until they find comfort in each other.
"A Walk to Remember" is nothing more than a glorified celluloid soap opera that may draw attention to the budding estrogen-driven young gals out there looking for the key moments to relate to their own unsatisfied and unresolved angst. Regrettably, the movie doesn't telegraph its cynicism very convincingly. This is a showcase for those who appreciate their "Dawson Creek" fix supersized on the big screen. Taking a "Walk" to this pandering after school special premise will make some cry indeed...but unfortunately, for the wrong reasons.
Frank rates this film: * 1/2 stars (out of 4 stars)