The Best of Me - Mein Weg zu dir

... which may not necessarily be a good thing.

Oddly, you divide the two almost at the midway point, that is, the one hour mark.

The first movie is a really sweet love story about lost love. It features a lot of flashbacks but luckily the actors playing the flashbacks and the actors playing 'real time' are all very competent, do a great job,the script works well, and the audience has a fun ride.

If the first hour were a movie on its own, I would give it a very strong rating.

However almost at the turn of the second hour (two hours BTW is much too long for this story) the connection between audience and viewer (this important factor discussed in many of my IMDb reviews) starts to fade as many story complications set in. And the script becomes lost in the various arcs.

I will not go into the complications but let me say that by the "climax" of the last Act the viewer may wonder if he/she dozed off and woke up in front of the TV watching an episode of JUSTIFIED. Enough said.

If the second hour were a movie on its own, I would give it a very low rating.

As an entire movie as it now stands, this film can be a rough ride for the viewer, and that is not a good thing.

Notes:

* always happy to see Michelle Monaghan, an actress under-used these days. Real star quality.

* Liana Liberato has a nice career ahead and better still actually looks like a young Michelle Monaghan, which is more than I can say of the casting choices for the male leads

* here is a tip for casting directors. FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE. Help you avoid the problem of casting two actors playing the same role (one in flashback) WHO LOOK NOTHING AT ALL LIKE EACH OTHER

So my movie theatre-working friend was getting off from work in the afternoon today and he wanted to see another movie before going to his sister's house to watch the New Orleans-Green Bay football game there. So this was what we ended up seeing. I once again decided to humor him and to tell the truth, this was quite enjoyable despite some familiar clichés like bad boy-liking-good girl-who-he-has-to-break up-with-because-of-his-roots (well, there was more than that but you get the idea). The fact this was filmed and takes place in our home state of Louisiana was a plus for me and my friend as we recognized some town names being mentioned and certain car window stickers in the film. Yes, it's based on a Nicholas Sparks book and it has what you'd possibly expect from him. Still, by the time it all ended, we were both touched by what happened. So on that note, The Best of Me is worth a look.

Dawson Cole (James Marsden, older and Luke Bracey, younger) works on an offshore oil rig. His performance as a rough neck is well respected. Unhappily, the rig catches fire one day and blows, but Dawson manages to rescue two men before he plunges over 100 feet into the ocean. Miraculously, he is alive, perhaps saved by a vision of a girl he knew long ago. That would be Amanda (Michelle Monaghan, older, Liana Liberato, younger). Shortly after, Dawson goes back home, having received notice that a dear surrogate father, Tuck (Gerald McRaney) has died. Amanda is there, too. At once, the film goes back to their senior-in-high-school days. Amanda was the pretty little rich girl. Unluckily, Dawson was the son of an abusive backwoods drug dealer. They met by accident, where Dawson was too stymied even to talk to this gal. But, slowly, a relationship developed. After another beating, Dawson ran away from home and stayed with the crusty widower Tuck, which enabled him to see more of Amanda. Love was strong and true between them. Yet, her dad disapproved and a crisis tore them apart. Now, 20 years later, they meet. Alas, Amanda is married with a husband, teen son, and memories of a daughter who died. But, will these two be able to resist the immense feelings of love that come rushing back? This beautiful movie should have romance fans crying oceans and sighing deeply. Forget the critics, they absolutely DO NOT KNOW HOW to review a female oriented movie any more. The cast is wonderful, the Louisiana setting is gorgeous, the costumes lovely, the script touching and the direction slow but analytic. Yes, this viewer didn't care for the ending, in which an added element was not needed to enhance the strength of the tale. But, all in all, fans best carry along a couple boxes of tissues, as this heartfelt flick will have tears falling like rain for all.

When my friend asked me out to see this film, I reluctantly agreed. I was very pleasantly surprised. My poor friend aged a lot over time, she looked for all of her life for a true love. She never found it. This film talks exactly about that. One of the lines mentioned is exactly that. Some people find true love, some look for it for whole of their lives and they never find it.

Acting was OK for this type of film. Actors really tried their best to make this film work. Congratulations to them.

Plot was nothing special, it was based on a book. It was OK for a romance film. I really liked it.

I recommend this film, especially if you are looking for a romance film.

I wasn't expecting too much of this movie. I thought it's gonna be the same old chick flick, with a lot of clichés, but it wasn't. Well, partially it was, but somehow they managed to make it interesting and not that predictable. Of course, it has the classic high-school love, poor boy-rich girl, different lives, different paths and so on, but somehow they mixed up the things really fine. It has action, it has passionate love, great acting, interesting story, everything you are expecting from a love movie. I've seen all the movies based on Nicholas Sparks's novels, not because I'm a fan (I only read "The Notebook"), but everybody was talking about his novels and the films, so I was just curious and I end it up actually enjoying them. Great movies to watch with your friends at a sleepover.