Posted: 01/28/2002

A Walk to Remember

(2002)

by Janet Branagan

This walk has been taken before, but the young leads make it worth repeating.

What does a teenage starlet do once she has taken the music, modeling and MTV world by storm? Well, if you’re Mandy Moore, your next stop ain’t Disneyland, it’s motion pictures.

A Walk To Remember showcases Moore in her first starring role as good Christian girl Jamie Sullivan. Jamie is the girl in school who all the popular kids love to hate. She has her own sense of style, which the cool kids equate with no sense. She is interested in quirky non-teenage things, like the church choir and tutoring. And for all her non-conformist attitudes, she is the one person you know is destined to rise above it all and make something special of her life.

If Jamie is yin, Landon Carter (Shane West) is her yang. Where Jamie is honest and good, Landon is dishonest and untrustworthy. Running with the wrong kids has gotten Landon in trouble one too many times. Still, Landon is a typical teen, consumed by the pressures to fit in. When a late night prank goes too far, Landon takes the fall. Little does he know that his after school sentence is really his salvation.

A Walk To Remember, while a simple movie with a well-intentioned message, is bound to get pelted for its heavy-handed sentimentalities and “love will conquer all” stance. This is not to say the film’s premise is unbelievable, but it does have a “been there, done that” vibe. Unfortunately, teen love stories are often dramatic and full of angst, mostly because real life teenage romance is overflowing with such emotions. These films appeal to young moviegoers because they have felt either that sort of ache for another or they spend a lot of their time wishing they had.

The script, adapted for the screen by Karen Janszen, does little to support the love the teens are supposed to have for each other. Yet, it is somewhere in the middle of the movie that an amazing thing occurs — Moore and West manage to turn in truthful and real performances. Some might dismiss the two leads, but what I saw were two budding stars that made A Walk To Remember somewhat meaningful and magical despite a script that could have indicated otherwise.

Jamie and Landon’s love story is supposed to be of the “against all odds, one in a million” kind of love most of us only dream of or read about in books. But in reality, A Walk To Remember is one of those books, originally a novel by Nicholas Sparks.

Fact or fiction, A Walk To Remember is the sort of film that calls upon real emotions to which we can all relate, like love, loss and hope. The walk might lead down a well-traveled path, but this is still one walk worth taking.

Janet Branagan is a freelance writer and pop culture lover from New Jersey.

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