"A Walk to Remember"
We're all familiar with pop music sensations Britney Spears and Christina
Aguilera, and some of us are getting to know Avril Lavigne.
Ever heard of Mandy Moore?
She's a younger singer who's been around for a few years though has had but a couple mild hits with "Candy" and "I wanna be with you".
Well, Mandy decided to make the leap into movies, and while most of us would expect the typical result being the singer teasing us with some T & A while drowning us with their own songs (like Britney), Mandy's approach was MUCH different. Instead, she opted to make a movie about romance and relationships…..Aka, a movie with substance and something to say.
Now, I admit that I went into this movie like the typical guy, hoping to see a little skin, but I was quickly turned around and found myself glued to the film for its story.
The storyline is very basic: bad boy jock teases nerdy, church-going girl but then gets to know her and has a change of heart.
Nothing special or unique there, right?
But that's the neat thing about this film in that it doesn't try to intrigue you with its baseline story, but instead surprises you with the details, situations and changes the characters go through.
Here's why…….
Our bad boy gets in trouble and is faced with the punishment of joining the drama club where he is forced to be in the school play. This is where he meets drama queen (and religious gal), Mandy, who is known as the geek, the virgin little churchgoer. So naturally, neither of them is thrilled with each other's company, but Mandy decides to see it as a challenge.
Then one day, she tells him that she has 3 goals:
1. To be in 2 places at the same time
2. Get a tattoo
3. It's a secret
She also has one condition for him…..he can't fall in love with her.
Of course, he doesn't see that as a problem whatsoever.
But then he makes the mistake of getting to know her, and things change.
Despite this all sounding typical and cliché, its quite the opposite.
Not only were there various impressive changes amongst several characters (for reasons I can't disclose), there were two other aspects that grabbed me:
1. The romantic theme. Some of the situations and actions that happen b/t them are incredibly realistic and tug at your heart. If you've ever been in love, you'll know what I mean.
2. The underlying theme. I believe this film is all about learning appreciation, especially for others. It's about not judging people before you get to know them. And its interesting how you can dislike someone, or tease them or be angry at them, but when tragedy strikes, it can be a reality kick in the butt that causes you to now want to HELP them.
The one single issue I had with the movie was that I felt it was forced or hurried in a couple of spots, but it made up for it as it went on.
And, no, Mandy doesn't show any skin, but that's not the point of it.
And I'm glad she didn't, because she instead stole my heart and made me think about many things.
Question is, how can we attain that point of appreciation, sympathy and care WITHOUT first treating someone poorly?
Perhaps we never will. Therefore, I can only hope there are more films to come like this one.
My Grade: A-