Film: Remember Me Review

Remember Me Movie Review

We know not all movies can have happy endings, but the least they could do is keep us interested until the climatic tragedy that leave us all realizing we were simply bored, depressed, and bored yet again for the past 2 hours. The Remember Me trailer sucks you in as a classic love story about the lost boy who is swept off his feet by the girl who knows what’s right for him. What it doesn’t allude to however, if the ridiculously slow plot, lack of relationship development, and pointless ending that makes you wonder what the point of it all was.

Remember Me stars Robert Pattinson (Twilight) as Tyler Hawkin, a wealthy NYU student who must deal with an absent, workaholic father (Pierce Brosnan) and the suicide of his older brother. Tyler’s hotheaded actions lead him to Ally (Emilie de Raven) a damaged, yet charming New Yorker who wins her way into Tyler’s heart.

When you strip off his dazzley glitter and gag worthy Twilight dialogue, Pattinson isn’t too bad of an actor. He’s emotional, brings depth to his character, and invokes a natural sense of humanity into Tyler’s persona. Unfortunately, the ridiculous plot line in this film fails him once again and creates a story no one wants to remember. Tyler and Ally never create a believable connection, mostly due to the fact that the only times they sleep together are when they have daddy issues one or the other needs to get over, or maybe it’s because they never really do anything together aside from sit around not talking, or cuddling, or doing anything else people normally do to get to know each other. This, mixed with the awkward and distracting attempt from Emilie de Raven to lose her Australian accent, leaves audiences unconvinced and uninvested in the relationship.

The bright light in this story is Caroline, Tyler’s younger sister, played by Ruby Jerins. Her and Tyler’s relationship is genuine and heartfelt. Her character brought the most substance to the story and helped create a family dynamic that would be better portrayed on it’s own without her brother’s romantic interest. The Hawkin family deals with enough tragedy and drama to stand on their own with genuine connections and believable emotional attachment. Strip away the awkward, poorly developed romance and this film just might improve.

Like I said the plot goes from boring to depressing and wraps up with completely unnecessary drama that will leave some viewers downright offended. I for one was definitely not satisfied. This is one of those stories that makes you feel like when life beats you all the way to the ground, you’re in for some more kicking. I’m not even sure what message this movie is trying to send. How to deal with grief? No, that’s not quite addressed. That you should cherish family? Well no, considering Tyler’s dad only turns to one random act of kindness towards his children that just happens to occur simultaneously with a tragic event, as if that makes it genuine or the start of a new pattern. We should be more open to love because life is short? No, because Tyler and Ally’s relationship isn’t really about love, it’s about dependently attempting to work out your issues through a relationship. And don’t expect the ending to clear anything up, it only makes you feel ten times worse than you did before.

All things said, don’t waste you eleven bucks on this film. Movies are either supposed to be an escape, or make you think about your world. Good ones do both, Remember Me does neither.