Movie Information
Release Date: February 14, 2014
Director: Shana Feste
Writer: Shana Feste, Joshua Safran, Scott Spencer
Cast: Alex Pettyfer, Gabriella Wilde, Bruce Greenwood, Joely Richardson, Robert Patrick, Rhys Wakefield, Dayo Okeniyi, Emma Rigby, Anna Enger, Fabianne Therese, Mike Bland, Jake Schultz, Jeff Pope, Zechariah Pierce
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 104 minutes
Studio: Universal Pictures
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: USA
Country: English
Words cannot describe how little I was looking forward to this film. It felt like punishment when I set in my seat to view, but I didn’t want to be biased. For some reason I kept thinking the love story would be as corny as a twilight novel but boy was I wrong. What works here is the age of the characters that have just graduated high school. While the film was actually pretty decent I felt it was miscast by our main lead David Elliot (Alex Pettyfer). In my opinion he’s a fine actor with truckloads of potential, but I just didn’t buy him as a recent graduate supposed to be 18 years of age. Besides that he did a pretty good job. As I was stating what works is the characters are in high school, and on average this is a time where most young adults encounter their first love. Parents may say they’re not in love for the simple fact that they don’t know what love is and that’s true. So if the attraction from our main couple seemed premature it’s only because of their age and that’s is believable in the real world. My favorite character in the bunch was the father Hugh Butterfield (Bruce Greenwood). His character grew the most even though it wasn’t focused on him. He’s dealing with a tragic mishap in the past and doesn’t want to lose his family. Sounds like a great father to me. He’s controlling in a sense but you can empathize with him. No one would like it if a recent graduate stole a car then took their daughter on a joy ride. So it gave him real reason to not initially approve of the romance his daughter was tip toeing around. Back to main character David, he inspired everyone to love again especially Hugh’s wife Jade (Gabriella Wilde). So while the audience loves his character of David the father still can’t approve due to other mishaps with his daughter. It’s an interested battle between the two of them that I appreciated. Some of the decisions the teens made were idiotic, but then again it’s okay because at that age we all don’t make the right decisions. All in all while I’m not raving about this picture, advising you to rush to the theater, it was a small surprise. I did enjoy and could relate to all the character and the problems placed in front of them. The ending was realistic and not corny and predictable. In the next year If I had female company over and we’re flipping through channels, with me trying to cater to her romantic taste, may recommend watching because that night may end well for both.
My Rating: 7/10