Endless Love (D+ or 1.5/4 stars)
Oh, dear. Here we have a Romeo & Juliet-like story set in upper-middle class suburbia in 2014. Is 'Endless Love' (directed by Shana Feste) any good? Um, that would be a resounding no. Although Jade Butterfield (pretty Gabriella Wilde) & David Elliot (hunky Alex Pettyfer, of Magic Mike) have graduated from the same Atlanta high school, it seems that she's spent the last 4 yrs. so buried in her books that she never looked up to see the handsomest guy in her class ... not once. But he's certainly had his eye on her and, when he's valet parking cars at a posh restaurant/Inn, he finally grabs her attention -- they eventually fall hard for each other.
Under the intense watchful eye of her cardiologist father (Bruce Greenwood), she's headed for Brown Univ. to study medicine & is scheduled to spend the summer interning with a high-profile surgeon. Although her mom, Anne (Joely Richardson, in a thankless role), & brother, Keith (Rhys Wakefield), have gone through their own mourning period, her dad is still grieving over his older son's death from cancer -- and he's LIVID when lonely Jade both ditches the internship & invites David to join them at the family's sprawling lakeside summer home. The friction btwn. the working-class boyfriend (Romeo) & upper middle-class father (Mr. Montague) is palpable, because David's widowed dad (Robert Patrick) is a lowly mechanic & David has an ill-reputed, rebellious past. Incendiary melodrama ensues.
What can I say? 'Endless Love' is simply a weak movie. With a script penned by Joshua Safran (of TV's Gossip Girl) & direction by Shana Feste (Country Strong ... UGH), I should have known what an insipid, sugary piece of blahh I was headed into. The film is wildly cliched. It's lame. It's contrived. Any peripheral character to the main story is poorly written. There's a big climactic scene involving fire that I feel like I've seen a million times before in other films. This is all a shame because the source material (a 1979 novel) is apparently quite good -- but you'd never get that impression from this motion picture. Now, there ARE a few reasons why I rate this film a D+ and not an F. For one, though the director/writer fouls up the TELLING of this story ... fact remains ... it's a decent enough story.
Also, I must say that the photography of the upper middle-class milieu is handled fairly well. And lastly, the performances - while far from amazing - are 'fine'. Alex Pettyfer & Gabriella Wilde (who played the reformed villainess in last yrs. so-so remake of Carrie) are believable as our infatuated adolescents -- even if they ARE 24 yr. olds from overseas playing 2 American teenagers. Bruce Greenwood is okay as the too-protective father. Joely Richardson is okayyyy; given a thankless role as the milquetoast mom. Really, any praise ends there. I just couldn't stand the maudlin direction & horrid writing of this overall inept romance drama; the likes of The Notebook & countless other films of that ilk which has come after it. Blech. For a Valentine's Day release, couples going to see this deserve better.
Under the intense watchful eye of her cardiologist father (Bruce Greenwood), she's headed for Brown Univ. to study medicine & is scheduled to spend the summer interning with a high-profile surgeon. Although her mom, Anne (Joely Richardson, in a thankless role), & brother, Keith (Rhys Wakefield), have gone through their own mourning period, her dad is still grieving over his older son's death from cancer -- and he's LIVID when lonely Jade both ditches the internship & invites David to join them at the family's sprawling lakeside summer home. The friction btwn. the working-class boyfriend (Romeo) & upper middle-class father (Mr. Montague) is palpable, because David's widowed dad (Robert Patrick) is a lowly mechanic & David has an ill-reputed, rebellious past. Incendiary melodrama ensues.
What can I say? 'Endless Love' is simply a weak movie. With a script penned by Joshua Safran (of TV's Gossip Girl) & direction by Shana Feste (Country Strong ... UGH), I should have known what an insipid, sugary piece of blahh I was headed into. The film is wildly cliched. It's lame. It's contrived. Any peripheral character to the main story is poorly written. There's a big climactic scene involving fire that I feel like I've seen a million times before in other films. This is all a shame because the source material (a 1979 novel) is apparently quite good -- but you'd never get that impression from this motion picture. Now, there ARE a few reasons why I rate this film a D+ and not an F. For one, though the director/writer fouls up the TELLING of this story ... fact remains ... it's a decent enough story.
Also, I must say that the photography of the upper middle-class milieu is handled fairly well. And lastly, the performances - while far from amazing - are 'fine'. Alex Pettyfer & Gabriella Wilde (who played the reformed villainess in last yrs. so-so remake of Carrie) are believable as our infatuated adolescents -- even if they ARE 24 yr. olds from overseas playing 2 American teenagers. Bruce Greenwood is okay as the too-protective father. Joely Richardson is okayyyy; given a thankless role as the milquetoast mom. Really, any praise ends there. I just couldn't stand the maudlin direction & horrid writing of this overall inept romance drama; the likes of The Notebook & countless other films of that ilk which has come after it. Blech. For a Valentine's Day release, couples going to see this deserve better.