A Walk to Remember

For those of us who had just reached adolescence when this movie came out, it was the most tragic-romantic movie any of us had ever seen, because we were too young to truly appreciate the "Leonardo DiCaprio dies" tragedies of the late '90s (Titanic and Romeo & Juliet).



Directed By: Adam Shankman (Hairspray, The Wedding Planner)
Starring: Shane West and Mandy Moore
Plot Summary: "Is she hanging out in a cemetery to get used to it?"

The movie starts out like any other teen movie that came out in 2004 might've started, with a group of attractive rabble-rousers being their "cool" selves. Then it derails into Nicholas Sparks Land ("Wouldn't that be the WORST THEME PARK EVER?!"), where someone has a terminal illness and the other person's life is completely changed by the power of love. Nevermind the contrived plot that the unfortunately busy Mr. Sparks has thrown into it. Over-acting and fake tears abound.

Observations Made As We Watched:
--"Why is she looking like a f***ing Jedi in that cape?"
--"I seriously don't remember it being this bad."
--"WHY IS DARYL HANNAH HERE?!"
--"I once dated a guy whose favorite movie was A Walk To Remember, should've been a red flag..."

"This is the part when everyone starts bawling."

The thing about a movie like this is that it's solely designed to be a tearjerker. And it served its purpose when we were 14, but the levels of ridiculousness have become shockingly apparent since then. One of us even burst out laughing in the middle of the movie because she thought about it a little too long.

We've got to give it to Mandy Moore for making such a great drama debut, though. Nobody expected her to be as good as she was, even if half the soundtrack is dedicated to making us remember Moore's star status. And another thing about the soundtrack: it's either fantastic or terrible. You're either soaring on the swelling chorus of a Switchfoot song (did we not all lose our s*** over "Dare You to Move" back in the day?), or you're vomiting into your popcorn at the over-the-top, stereotypical piano interlude. Emotional manipulation, natch.

The Best Part: Hands-down, Mandy Moore.

The Worst Part: The intro. It seems like it belongs to an entirely different movie, and even though it speaks to the amount that Jamie later changes Landon, it's bad on its own two feet.

For its relentless melodrama, boring plot, and sub-par acting, we give it a D (atrocious). It has its moments of really funny dialogue, and Shane West is fake-crying his eyeballs out, but let's face it: It's not the movie we remember from our freshman year of high school. Nowhere near it.

(Poster and trailer © Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.)