Last Song

I have never seen or read any previous Sparks stuff, so know that this review is at least unbiased in that regard.

Ok, so I love romantic comedies, but I've never been a big fan of mushy love stories. Actually they turn me off. That said, I love me some Miley so I decided to give this movie a shot despite it's by the same guy who wrote the mushiest story ever (or so I've heard), "The Notebook."

I think in order to give it a fair review, I have to break it into pieces because it certainly deserves some credit as well as some bashing.

Acting:

Ok, I know I said I love Miley, but that's as a singer. Girl is a horrible actress. Terrible, terrible, terrible. She's hardly believable, and her range of emotions is, well, almost nonexistent. But I will say this, she has improved. There were brief, very brief, moments, seconds when she was actually in character. I think there's hope for her acting career...maybe.

Now, the star I think stole the show was Bobby Coleman, who played Miley's little brother. He was funny and intense when the scene called for it. Actually his performance is what made me cry and laugh. Yes, I cried, tears and all.

Greg Kinnear, played her dad, was also very good, but isn't he always?

The bf was not bad, I think with a better role he'd have stood out more.

Main Storyline:

Contrary to popular belief, generated by misleading promos, this movie was NOT about first love. And that was a nice relief. The story of the dad and his kids is actually very moving and definitely the saving grace of this movie.

Needed a little more background and more screen time seeing the dad interact with the kids, and the supposed music theme--need to see/develop the significance to Ronnie (Miley) . But even as is, it provided a healthy balance of comedy and drama. Actually if they had developed the relationships enough and let go of the side plot of Miley and her bf, this could've been quite a beautiful movie.

Side plot - teen love:


Characters were not believable. A jock/aquarium volunteer/mechanic/lit nerd/super rich guy with a nice heart was a little much to take.

Plus Miley's rebellious character who kept getting mad and breaking up/making up with the bf was very annoying. Plus, she was mean yet caring towards her little brother too. I don't know just seemed liked too much indecisiveness for one character.

But I think what really made this fail was that they really tried to develop (i.e. spoonfeed) the love story which felt rushed but choppy. Reminded me of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet who fall in love, elope, and kill themselves in the name of love at the age of 14/16 and during a 3 day span.

2nd subplot:

Blaze & marcus---I don't know why this was even there. A weak attempt to develop Ronnie's (Miley) good traits.

Music:

:) no complaints, the girl can sing




Overall: wait for it to air on TV, definitely not worth the $10.

FAIL! >=p