Now, at 3:00 p.m. I'm starting to reconsider, again. On the surface, it had an interesting concept. Two college students who have both faced family tragedy in their lives tentatively begin a relationship, find they actually do like each other, and begin to fall in love. However, the very pretense that brought them together threatens to break them apart. Can they keep it together while also trying to salvage what's left of their families? I won't tell you the answer, but suffice it to say, the journey is entertaining, heartbreaking, and even, at times, insightful.But was what I spent 2 hours watching last night really all that good? Sure, it had its moments. Sure, it was interesting to watch. I laughed in the appropriate spots, and enjoyed the hell out of supporting character Aidan, Tyler's quirky binge-drinking roommate played by Tate Ellington (who is adorable, and quite possibly my favorite part of the movie). I mean, there was definitely enough man-candy to go around. But, I also enjoyed the character of the littler sister, Caroline (Ruby Jerins), who, in a way, reminded me of myself at that age (only, honestly, like 57x more awesome!). But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't distracted by the fact that it was Robert freaking Pattinson in this movie. Poor guy. He is quite the distraction. Not because he's super handsome (though, admittedly, his is NOT bad to look at). It was more of the whole "oh my god, it's that guy who's on all the tabloids and whom virtually every female between the ages of 5 and 50 is in love with, myself included on certain days, etc." So, between the occasional sighing and giggling I heard coming from various directions, it was sometimes hard to get into the story.
Which brings me to that fact: the story. Rumor had it, it was based on a book, but a little googling tells me that it is, indeed, NOT. That's a shame because I was hoping maybe reading the book would help answer a few of the holes I felt were in the story-telling. Like I said, the relationship started of tentatively. It was almost awkward, forced. But I suppose it was believable, given that the whole thing was started as a scheme between the guys. You know, like how boys in movies do. That's all fine and good (though morally questionable, boys). But they never really mentioned it or came back to it until it was An Issue. The only allusion to it is a shake of Aidan's head on the night of Tyler and the girl's (whose name is Ally) second date. And I love Chris Cooper (who was Ally's father, Sgt. Neil Craig), and he played the character well, but I didn't believe the playful, dependent relationship between the cop father and struggling-to-find-herself daughter at the beginning of the movie. That felt forced. Maybe, then, it was Emilie de Ravin, though I don't know about that since she was fine the rest of the movie (not to mention pretty much rocks in LOST). I don't know. What was the problem then? I can't tell.
As the story went on, I became more comfortable with the characters and their situations and behaviors. I felt bad for them (and good for them) in all the right spots. But then, when Sgt. Craig comes around again, beats Tyler (again), and the aforementioned pretense is revealed, I felt very little as the characters seemingly overreacted and sent themselves into unnecessary pity-binges. Maybe I just expect too much maturity from the characters who are only supposed to be a couple of years younger than I; I don't know. But I guess it was alright; things started to pick back up (with a decidedly emotional display of brotherly love), so all was good.
But then came the ending. Ho. Ly. Shit. I wasn't expecting that. I'm not going to give it away, but it was jarring to say the least. I've heard a lot of people criticize the ending as a hokey attempt at a sort of sensationalism, an attempt to scare the audiences into submission and acceptance with their own fear. Now, now, before you think that zombies came out of nowhere, it was nothing like that. But once we figured out what was going to happen (which didn't fully occur to everyone until minutes before the end), I think it's safe to say the whole audience was a little shocked and pulled from the narrative.
There was a voice-over to the movie, over the last few minutes, but I couldn't tell you what he said. I heard his voice, but none of the words registered as my brain lost all ability to comprehend language. As it finally faded to black, my thoughts came back, and I was mad. I couldn't understand why they would give the movie that hadn't been that bad such a shitty ending. But then I started thinking about it. It shouldn't really have been that big of a surprise. They gave us all the necessary clues throughout the movie. Some may have needed more context clues than others, which is probably why it went on for so long, but it was all there. So, shocking yes, but out of nowhere? Not really. And the harder I thought about it, the more I tried to remember that final voice-over that my ears had chosen to ignore, I realized that it had to end this way to deliver that final message. And, in my opinion, it's a hell of a message.
So, will this film change your life? Probably not. But was it a good movie? I think I'm going to have to go with yeah, it was pretty good, all things considered. It had its faults, but the relationships, the heartfelt characters, and that crazy twist ending overshadowed most of the awkwardness to make a rather enjoyable (and intensely thought-provoking) experience.
Dilemma averted.
Read what this person had to say about the script back in April 2009: http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2009/04/memoirs.html
Here is (I think... could be...) the final voice-over text: http://quote-book.tumblr.com/post/133682783/whatever-you-do-in-life-will-be-insignificant-but
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