Director: Shana Feste
Writers: Shana Feste, Joshua Safran
Stars: Gabriella Wilde, Alex Pettyfer, Bruce Greenwood
Synopsis: The story of a privileged girl and a charismatic boy whose instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart.
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INTRO
Valentine’s Day is here (fellas I hope you are ready) and this weekend the movies should be very busy we three movies that gives us three different love stories, with two of them being remakes. In one corner, we have the classic remake of Endless Love. Much like the reptiles that I keep, I come off as having a cold-heart, in reality I sometimes do enjoy a nice love story. Last year, About Time ended up being one of my Top 5 Movies of 2013. About Time was no where near perfect, but then again hardly any movie is; it was the message that resonated with me.
DIRECTION
Director Shana Feste and Co-Screenwriter Joshua Safran do a fantastic job of planting a formula and sticking to it (they must be Seattle Seahawk fans). Very often these love stories fail to keep the attention of Men but this film has a few jokes that work well and are not overdone. Another problem with these love stories is way too much affection. Endless Love did not have a single kiss between Jade and David until almost the half-way point which allowed more focus on the actual storyline. The film also shows that Love can change you or inspire you to do better while also illustrating that you should never be afraid to chase your dreams.
Grade: A
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SCRIPT
Endless Love tells the story of Jade Butterfield (Gabriella Wilde), a sheltered but privileged teen that becomes enthralled with David Elliot (Alex Pettyfer), a simple hard-working man with a cloudy past. Jade and David fall in love almost immediately and there love going gets stronger when Jade’s father Hugh (Bruce Greenwood) is hell bent on keeping them apart. The story is basic and has been used many times over. Feste and Safran quickly change the dynamic of this film within the first couple of minutes though, from what we are used to in these types of movies. Endless Love by no means avoids the usual cliché love story, but the flow of the story keeps you enough to overcome all the affection.
Grade: B
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PERFORMANCES
Neither Wilde nor Pettyfer are ideal actors for this role as they are too much like Ken and Barbie. However, they do work together very well to make the film enjoyable. Joely Richardson tried very hard to expand her role of Jade’s mother, Ann. Greenwood played an excellent Hugh while Robert Patrick played David’s dad very well in his limited role.
Grade: C
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SCORE
The score featured music by Florence and The Machine and Elli Goluding. As great as the soundtrack was, I cannot grade it very high as they did not even play the Endless Love song. The Endless Love song was the cornerstone of the first film and in fact it is one of the best songs I have ever heard. Not having this song play is like having Jeopardy with no sound.
Grade: D
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IS IT WORTH IT?
Needless to say, based on the trailer I assumed this movie was going to be a complete disaster, and although not as good as About Time, it is not a bad movie. Having already seen RoboCop, About Last Night and Winter’s Tale, my clear choice this weekend for any movie goers would be Endless Love.
