Per una sola estate

Here On Earth is about opposite people who fall in love. They must change their whole lives to be together. Samantha is a teenager from a family with limited income. She has always dated Jasper. They love each other and will be together forever. At least that's what they thought before a boy named Kelly came into the picture. Kelly is a rich kid from the other side of town. Kelly and Jasper are in a car race and accidentally hit Samantha's family diner which causes it to catch fire and be destroyed. Kelly and Jasper then help rebuild the diner. Kelly and Samantha begin to like each other, and now Samantha must choose. Does she go with Jasper who she's been with forever, or does she go with Kelly who is different? She falls for Kelly, but it wasn't easy. They have numerous problems, everything from flashbacks of a parent's suicide to one of them getting cancer. Through thick and thin their love holds them together.

The main intention of director Mark Pizanrski was to show that if we want something bad enough. we will do anything to get it. Kelly and Samantha wanted to be together. They change their whole life to be with each other. They stood up to people they loved and had to face tough situations. But in the end it was worth it. Samantha declares that `some people live their whole lives and never fall in love, I lived my life and I fell in love.' All the hard work had been worth it. This is to me what Pizanrski wanted to get across.

My favorite part of the movie is the characters. They do such fine acting that the audiences feel as if they are a part of it. The characters will make them laugh and cry at the same time. Without the excellent acting of the cast, Here On Earth would not have been a success. They are what make the movie entertaining.

I only rented this film because I had a free coupon, was home alone, and wanted a sappy movie. I guess I didn't think it was so bad because it's what I was in the mood for at the time. Yes, the movie was somewhat predictable, but it did have a decent story line which carried some meaning. It's definitely not a movie for the intellectual crowd, but I think most teens looking for a good romance will enjoy it. Chris Klein was very handsome in this movie, so if your a fan of his, you will like that aspect of it. Also, have a box of tissues nearby!

*MILD SPOILERS* - Hey, you know how there's always that one guy in every Nicolas Sparks movie (usually rich and spoiled) who makes a crude remark about the hero's girlfriend and then gets punched out in a public place (usually a wedding reception or a party)? Well, if you've ever wanted to see HIS story, this is the movie for you! Even though this came out 2 years BEFORE A Walk to Remember, it came out a year after the book - I don't know if someone at 20th Century Fox ordered some writers "hey - make a movie kinda like this book NOW!", but what I do know is this movie sticks closer to the Sparks formula even moreso than AWTR! Besides Sparks standards like a small town, disapproving parents, class issues, disease, and death, this one throws in future Sparks tropes that were missing - love scene in the rain, multiple montages of people building or renovating something (usually a boat, tractor or a house; here a diner), a love triangle with a "nice guy", and a PG-13, shot from the shoulders-up sex scene - they're all here. All we're missing is handwritten letters in a box and a North Carolina coastal setting and this would actually be the ultimate Sparks movie. I wonder if he consciously or subconsciously borrowed a bunch from this movie - a true Who Made Who? situation.

But is it any good? It's entertaining and watchable, but it's also head-scratchingly wrongheaded in concept or execution. The main character is arrogant, he's sleazy, he's ungrateful, he makes fun of poor people - it seems like they're setting up some kind of redemption story, but then they forgot to film the redemption parts! He's just as big an a-hole at the end as he was at the beginning, and we're supposed to root for him for some reason as he steals another guy's girlfriend, then treats her like crap, then leaves and disses the entire town, then comes back like nothing happened. It might make some sense if Chris Klein showed any of his aw-shucks, goofy persona (from Election and American Pie, etc...) but he's simultaneously unlikable and uninteresting here, not to mention he bears a striking resemblance to mass murderer Elliot Rodger. I mean, look at his smug look on the cover, you're about to get a whole movie of that. This is the first Chris Klein movie where I don't want to hang out with his character (and yes this includes Street Fighter).

Why are we supposed to cheer on Leelee Sobieski as she cheats on her boyfriend with this guy? They have zero chemistry and they never portray her boyfriend as anything less than a good guy, and I'd argue more women would choose Josh Hartnett over Chris Klein- it's mind-boggling that we're supposed to sympathize with her as she makes out with Klein RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER BOYFRIEND'S BEST FRIEND and he's supposed to be the bad guy for ratting them out? As a Paul Verhoeven-esque satire of the tragic romance genre, this kinda works, but viewed straight it's kind of unbelievable that they released this movie without major reshoots or re-writes.

Here on Earth is an absolutely awful romance-wannabe. The characters are merely cookie cutter at best: the young, doomed girl whom is torn between her love of the past and the breath of fresh air sweeping through the sleepy town; Kelley, the poor/rich boy who learns a life lesson and of course Jasper: the jilted lover. Of these three I found Jasper to be the most interesting simply because he shows more than two emotions throughout the entire film.

The "romance" (and I use that term loosely) between Kelley and Sam is missing. There is not enough development of these two as characters for me to care about their "budding relationship". And what was that scene between them under the tree with the states? AWFUL! Boo! Hiss!

Chris Klein is way too sensitive in this movie and Leelee Sobieski's movements are very awkward--in fact it is painful to watch her. (Think back to the scene in the kitchen with her "dancing" around) Josh Hartnett redeems the movie a bit with a character that actually has more than one layer. Just skip the movie altogether and save yourself from this dud.

This film's setup is OK: rich kid's probation is helping rebuild the restaurant his irresponsible behavior burns down. And I liked the female lead, Lee Sobieski. At various points, she reminded me of Helen Hunt, of Laura Linney, and even of Jodie Foster. But somebody in the small town would have told the rich kid that she was a cancer patient, so the big revelation scene never would have happened. Too bad, but the whole film turned out to be a Love Story knock-off.