‘A Walk To Remember’ Should Be Forgotten

“A Walk to Remember,” directed by Adam Shankman (“The Wedding Planner”), is a teen love story. And although it makes a strong attempt, it fails to successfully avoid the obnoxious teen movie stereotypes. Despite good efforts by leads Shane West and Mandy Moore, a variety of elements work on the movie like a cancer, slowly undermining any attempt to enjoy the film.

The story, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks (“Message in a Bottle”) focuses on the life of Landon Carter (West), a reckless and moody high school senior in the small North Carolina town of Beaufort. A prank gone awry sends one boy to the hospital, and as penance, Carter is strong-armed into joining a variety of school activities. There he meets Jamie Sullivan (Moore), an unpopular, bookish girl, and the faithful daughter of the town’s Baptist minister. With that introduction, the remainder of the film is completely predictable. But even its predictability does not account for the rancid aftertaste the movie leaves in your mouth.

The acting itself is strong from both Moore and West, as well as in supporting actors Peter Coyote (“Erin Brockovich”), playing Reverend Sullivan, and Daryl Hannah (“Wall Street,” “Roxanne”) playing Landon’s single mother.

What makes “A Walk to Remember” so inedible is not what makes it your standard love story, but indeed what the filmmakers so proudly announce sets it apart: its message. The film breaks the classic rule of “Don’t tell me, show me,” and one is left watching a propaganda film instead of a love story. The movie beats its audience about the head and neck in a bewildering desire to impress upon us the idea that “love and faith conquer all.” And, like force-feeding a child that doesn’t want to eat, the only thing the movie manages to create is a mess. A mess of clichés, love songs, and doubt—because, as you leave the theater, you aren’t convinced. The film hasn’t sold its main point. Yet the attempt is so forceful, and so blatant, that you leave feeling that the message itself is flawed, that love and faith doesn’t conquer all, but are merely concepts pumped into us by a media IV. And how could it be otherwise? If love and faith did conquer all, we wouldn’t need to go to movies to convince us that love is somehow transformative.

Yet, we still want to believe the message, otherwise its poor representation wouldn’t be so problematic. Is it possible that the American audience can no longer accept the love story? The love story was the basis for some of the best American cinema. Neither “Casablanca” nor “Gone with the Wind” could have been the treasures they are were it not for their ability to make audiences believe in love. And, although its unfair to put “A Walk to Remember” up against some of the greatest movies of all time, these two examples tell us something about how to make the love story translate successfully as a film. In both of these classics, love fosters in the face of an external, monumental threat. No such threat exists in “A Walk to Remember.” It’s hard to compare the jeering of the in-crowd at school to the ravages of the Civil War. This contrast is not to suggest that Landon and Jamie don’t face several significant difficulties, but these problems are internal to the couple, and not an external threat. Further, the truly great love stories do not suggest that love can turn the tide of the events. Not even Rhett Butler was that arrogant. The attraction then is not that love is in any way a powerful or transformative force; it is simply love for love’s sake.

Any love story is by its very nature a guilty pleasure. The deck is essentially stacked in the director’s favor, as American audiences want to believe in love. But, like all cherished myths, the love story needs to be handled gently. If a love story comes off as being too pushy, an audience will quickly turn its back on it. Let “A Walk to Remember” serve as a warning to filmmakers everywhere to practice what they preach, and have a little faith in their audience. C