A Walk To Remember

Review by By Clint Morris

Like Love Story (1970) with a fashion sagacity or Here on Earth (1998) with veracity, the youth-oriented love story A Walk to Remember is proverbially old plotted - boy from the wrong side of the tracks falls for girl from the right side of the tracks; and together they ignite like an aerosol can in a fire.

Couple this with the tried and dependable element of a terminal illness and any originality the story may have bought is perceivably gone awash.

Like a dilapidated old doll re-sewn and re-materialised, A Walk to Remember, while not very innovative, is one of the loveliest films of late, a beautiful bittersweet romance made all the more enjoyable thanks to the believable love affair on screen.

Have your Kleenex ready and leave your cynicism in the bottom draw.

Landon Carter (Shane West) is a bemused teenager and he's always getting into trouble. When one of his latest pranks leaves a fellow student paralyzed, Carter is forced to serve time in the school drama club, among other duties, as punishment. It's there that he meets frumpish innocent Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore), an outsider who he usually wouldn't look twice at. But in suit with her good-hearted nature, Jamie offers Landon a helping hand in his new role.

Jamie's transmittable personality and looming kinship leads Landon to look within his heart and realizes it's playing to the rhythm of this unlikely match. A girl he wouldn't have even wanted to be seen with 6 months before, a girl a lot more grounded and kind than any of the shallow teens he hangs with. Jamie Sullivan finds herself with a suitor. And this suitor's in love.

To tell much more about A Walk to Remember would be spoiling the emotionally draining journey. It's so delicate and effectual; it would be like ripping the petals from a blossoming flower and not being able to watch it develop.

Director Adam Shankman and his writer, Karen Janszen, working from the novel by Nicholas Sparks, have squeezed out all the right emotion from the two leads, leading to an effectively real romance. Their love is real and their kinship is unmistakable. Any chance of being ripped apart, and the audience too feels as if they're being tugged away from something lovely. What should be should be.

Mandy Moore is revelation. Proving pop singers can act - if only a rare few, Moore provides one of the sweetest and effective performances by a young female lead in the genre for quite some time. Gone are her trademark beautiful blonde locks and infectious smile, and it's in place is a frumpish costume, sorrowful eyes and forewarning emotion.

She's adorably sweet and one of the loveliest characters on screen in a long time. Coupled with Shane West's reveling performance of the tough kid come soft, we have a union made in heaven.

There are flaws: there is corniness, but there's heart - and that's what overshadows any of the inconsistencies of A Walk To Remember. We, for once, aren't watching two teen actors bop around the screen in lacklustre performances, nor are we roped into watching something as synthetic as vanilla imitation; this film is as sweet as sugar; and as real as the porcelain bowl that it fills. Treat yourself to a good cry.

4 out of 5

A Walk To Remember
Australian release: Thursday June 27th
Cast: Mandy Moore, Shane West, Peter Coyote, Daryl Hannah, Lauren German, Clayne Crawford.
Director: Adam Shankman.
Website: Click here

Brought to you by MovieHole