The Longest Ride Review

Nicholas Sparks' adaptations function as their own postal systems. Though the characters never seem to overlap - a Notebook cross over with Dear John might actually be tangible - they might as well exist within a shared universal, one where relationship expectations are held to much higher standards (looking at you, men) and the lovey-dovey plot is interchangeable, like clockwork. Sometimes, it's the rugged down boy with a chip on his shoulder, sometimes class gets in the way, sometimes war (and the list eerily drags on). Love always wins out, usually, and Sparks typically does not shy away from killing someone off. In fact, the one thing I have learned from his movies is that not everyone will make it out alive

Step into the present with The Longest Ride, a more ambitious approach into the realm of Sparks' novella. Hot-shot bullrider, Luke Collins (Scott Eastwood), attempts to forge a comeback one year later after a harrowing accident almost left him dead. He googly eyes with Sophia Danko (Britt Robertson), an art major from New Jersey who tags along one day with her sorority sisters to a rodeo. You will never guess who she meets? The two come from different worlds and are heading in two different directions. She's heading to an internship in New York, and he's going to Vegas for the world championship. However, that is not all; another couple steps into the spotlight as well. Driving home from their night filled with romance, Luke and Sophia come across a car wreck and find Ira (Alan Alda), an elderly man who has had a heart attack while driving. Beside him is a box filled with letters. At the hospital, while Ira recovers, Sophia reads to him the letters of his marriage to Ruth, a feisty Jewish refugee from Austria in World War II. As written, the romance is typical scmultz with a few weepy moments of earnestness. While the dynamic itself is morally dopy, the actors can breathe very little potent into the context. Shockingly enough, the last romance movie (of this caliber) that I saw was the beautiful, passionate, and emotional The Fault In Our Stars. Ironically, these movies share the same producers, and yet, Longest Ride doesn't even come close to matching the integrity of what that piece contained. Scott Eastwood is a good looking dude, who could probably charm a few ladies. In my screening, when Eastwood's face is revealed to the audience, I heard about fifteen girls sigh in awe and sink into their chairs (No, really!). Then Britt Robertson, equally as good looking, provides much chemistry to the relationship in the picture. I almost wanted to believe it, which almost says enough about how well-written the screenplay is, if that's how you want to word it. All the clichés are perfectly enacted, from the moment where the man uses his smolder to distract the girl, to the lesson - one in which Luke teaches Sophia how to bull ride. It even starts to rain at the most simplest and supplemental moment of pure antiquity. While the timing of going back and forth between the present/past can be a bit hard to scuffle through, a side of me wanted more of the present day relationship, while I also wanted more of the past. There is a decent balance between the two worlds, but not by much. Look, it's easy to laugh at this stuff. I kind of did, but the jist of it all is that you need to buy into the silliness first. Director, George Tillman Jr., is not afraid to let his characters get to know each other, and it's easy for me to say I will never watch The Longest Ride again, nor would I recommend this to my closest friends. But, for those Nicolas Sparks enthusiasts who have read every line he has written, it's going to be hard pressed not to find a fan who won't be satisfied. Although, be warned; this film stands at a staggering 2hrs and 23 mins, which takes the title of Longest Ride to a whole new meaning. Catch my drift?