By Kara Patman
Staff Writer
George Tillman’s film adaptation of the novel “The Longest Ride,” written by Nicholas Sparks, is a sappy love story, that leaves the audience hoping that the two lovers end up together. As the beginning started slowly with awkward dialogue and bad acting the story ends up turning into a heart-warming love story.
“The Longest Ride” follows college student Sophia (Britt Robertson) and former bull-riding champion Luke (Scott Eastwood) as they try to make their different life styles converge into one.
The story’s plot features a parallel between a love story from the 1940s and one from modern day. Luke saves a man named Ira (Alan Alda) from a car crash on the side of the road in the beginning of the movie, which leads to Sophia and Ira forming a special bond when she saves the hundreds of letters in a box from Ira’s car. These letters were ones he wrote to his wife throughout their marriage. Ira serves as the “Old Wise Man” in this movie and often who Sophia goes to for love advice between her and Luke.
“The Longest Ride” starts out weak when Sofia and Luke meet each other at one of his rodeo events. When she talks to him it is uncomfortable, awkward and hard to watch. Sofia’s acting is poor in the beginning, which makes her character not believable. Eventually, as the movie progresses, her character becomes more genuine.
As the movie continues and their love soon starts to become greater than their issues, the passion kicks in which makes the movie better. It turns from sappy into meaningful. It feels as if the viewer is right their with them embarking on their journey together. The director uses everyday situations to put one in the position of the characters. He also uses characters from two different generations, which makes the movie appeal to a more diverse age group.
Sofia and Luke fall in love and continue to talk to Ira for advice. Sofia often visits Ira and reads him the letters he wrote to his wife. During the readings, the scene flashes back to when Ira and his wife were young and shows the hardships they had to face together. Every time Sofia and Luke face diversity, it is relevant to a situation that Ira and his wife overcame. This adds a different perspective to the film and foreshadows the future path that Luke and Sofia should take.
This movie touches all age groups as it documents the struggles that everyone faces in life, love and death. As most love stories, it is often easy to tell what is to come next and the movie is very predictable, which makes it a little less exciting. The end always ends with a “happily ever after.” Although anyone could watch this movie, it is geared more towards females and would be noted as a “chick flick.”
“The Longest Ride” was an impressive film showing the audience that the worst times will all end up alright. With the parallel lifestyle of the 1940s couple and the 2015 couple, the director tries to explain that in the end, devotion or dedication will ultimately win.
“The Longest Ride” is rated PG-13 and is playing in theaters nationwide.
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