Director: Michael Hoffman
Stars: James Marsden, Michelle Monaghan, Luke Bracey, Lana Liberato, Gerald McRaney
Based on a Nicholas Sparks novel (some of you will have already made up your mind based on that), The Best of Me is about two former high school sweethearts who went their separate ways. Now they’re brought back together because of a tragedy, and find that some feelings still linger.
So yeah, this is pretty much standard Sparks fair, although its one of the weakest outings. It feels generic and there’s not much life to it. I didn’t feel any chemistry between the four leads so I couldn’t buy into the romance, and so the whole film just fell apart for me. The tragedies that happened in the film didn’t emotionally involve me, and I also found it hard to reconcile the actors who played the different aged versions of the protagonists. There were only 20 years between the flashbacks and the quartet didn’t resemble each other at all.
It also takes a long time to where it’s going, and by the climax I was bored. It moved at a slow pace and didn’t do enough to interest me. This is one to miss.
