I wish that on this Valentine’s Day I could write a positive review about a romantic movie, that I could tell all couples out there that watching “Endless Love” would be a date night well spent.
However, I can’t say that. “Endless Love” is average at best, a teenage romantic drama so predictable that if I were to give you the skeleton of the plot, you could flesh it out in 10 seconds flat.
So, the plot: a middle-class boy (Alex Pettyfer), gets to date the girl of his dreams (Gabriella Wilde) after crushing on her throughout high school, but her father (Bruce Greenwood) disapproves. Your 10 seconds start now.
In all seriousness: David (Pettyfer) has been too shy to talk to Jade (Wilde), a sheltered girl who has retreated into herself since the passing of her brother. We never see this brother, as this is all explained through an expositional voice-over, mistakenly holding the audience at bay by not showing us this loss firsthand. Jade has no friends and wants to hold a graduation party to meet her senior class. Remember when the gorgeous blonde girl with supermodel good looks didn’t have any friends in high school? Yeah, neither do I.
Anyway, at the party, Jade and David hit it off and fall for each other. However, Hugh), Jade’s father, is decidedly less than happy about his daughter falling for David, whose father is a car mechanic. David has a sordid past, and Hugh isn’t about to let some guy screw up his daughter after he’s already lost a son.
There are some sincere threads in the film. Jade wants to break away from her father, yet we are able to understand where her father’s overly strict ways come from. Hugh is a man still reeling from the death of his son, maintaining his room in the exact same condition as it was when he died, a museum of baseball trophies and placards.
Unfortunately, these conflicted characters can’t offset the melodrama of screaming in the street, car crashes and house fires.
The entire cast actually does a fairly remarkable job, and is solely responsible for elevating the film above its pitiful script. Pettyfer and Wilde have legitimate chemistry with each other as a couple who are hopelessly enraptured with one other. Greenwood, as the domineering patriarchal figure, brings understanding and vulnerability to the role. Dayo Okeniyi, playing David’s friend, brings comedic relief that undercuts the drama at times.
Here’s a final note that may relieve couples who have made plans to see this movie: During the advanced screening at the Gallagher Theater earlier this week, I had to excuse myself for roughly 15 minutes. When I came back, I was able to pick up right where I had left off. So if you find yourself in a dark movie theater come Friday night and the passion is thick in the air, go right ahead and make out in the middle of the movie, because you won’t be missing much.