WHERE EVERY ROMANCE HAS GONE BEFORE: The plot needs no explaining if you have ever thumbed through a romantic novel.

By Anand Holla

 

It’s a formula to shame all formulas. High school sweethearts neck-deep in love separate due to a twist of fate, and reunite after several years to try and rekindle romance.

So far, so predictable. To make matters worse, director Michael Hoffman’s The Best of Me chooses to narrate such a tried-and-bested story in the dullest manner possible. The outcome is a crashing disappointment, topped off by a ridiculous “plot twist” in the climax that we all thought had died a silent death a great many moons ago.

The plot needs no explaining if you have ever thumbed through a romantic novel. A young couple, Dawson Cole (Luke Bracey) and Amanda Collier (Liana Liberato) are madly in love. The first stereotype is embedded in who they are – rich girl with big college aspirations, poor boy raised by a bunch of scumbags.

As an unexpected tragedy befalls, the two separate. Twenty years later, they meet again – the older versions played by James Marsden (X-Men, Superman Returns, Enchanted) and Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Mission: Impossible III, Source Code) – when they return to their small town to honour the dying wish of their beloved friend Tuck Hostetler (Gerald McRaney).

 With that, the couple finds a second chance to get back to a love interrupted. But Amanda’s present-day realities are far too daunting to overcome, and fate, too, is adamant in throwing a few more troubles their way.

Bestselling American novelist Nicholas Sparks’ quintessential tale of love lost, found, and then lost again, makes a meek comeback in this romantic drama aimed straight at dreamy-eyed teenagers. However, the cheesy treatment is likely to not cut favour with them, expect for the occasional bursts of unintentional humour.

Obviously, the movie banks heavily on the chemistry between the lead pairs. Although the spark is evident between Bracey and Liberato, the same can’t be said for Marsden and Monaghan. When they reunite, their attraction is palpable but barely so. While that is a plot requirement, even their eventual realisation about what they still feel for each other doesn’t result in much. Moreover, the casting, too, may come under question by most, given how totally different the younger Dawson and Amanda look from the older pair.

While the romantics may take to this story centred on undying love, some plot holes are hard to overlook. It’s tough to believe, for instance, that Dawson wouldn’t even talk to his beloved for months together when their love hits a wall. That said, the warm relationship that Dawson develops with his surrogate father Tuck, and the bonhomie that the two, along with Amanda, share, makes for some nice moments. The climax though is ruined by the Godmother of all clichés. Hint: Organ transplant.

Starting with Message in a Bottle (1999) and A Walk to Remember (2002), this film adaptation is the ninth of the 17 novels that Sparks has penned. While it may be better than Dear John (2010), the film doesn’t hold a candle to Sparks’ most successful story, and also a touching film adaptation, The Notebook.

As the film’s runtime of two hours starts to bear down heavily on you, it may make you develop trust issues with the genre of modern romantic dramas. That’s because The Best of Me is so corny that at times, it plays out like a spoof. And fortunately, or unfortunately, it is not.

 

+ The Doha premiere of the film was held at Novo Cinemas, The Pearl-Qatar.

 

 

 

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