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Friday, January 25, 2002
The chemistry between its stars keeps 'Walk' running
Readers of Nicholas Spark's best seller "A Walk to Remember" may not recognize this big-screen adaptation at first. Much of the novel was stripped and altered and while that may be blasphemy to his fans, as a stand-alone effort "A Walk to Remember" is a surprisingly sweet yarn.
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Set in a small North Carolina town, the teenage love story should serve as sigh-worthy for fans of the two young stars. Shane West, best known as Eli on the ABC drama "Once and Again," plays popular brooder Landon Carter, whose rebel-rousing antics land a teen in the hospital. As punishment, Landon is made to perform some community service and act in the drama club's play -- both activities that throw him together with plain loner Jamie Sullivan (pop singer/Neutrogena spokeswoman Mandy Moore), the daughter of the Baptist minister who volunteers for these things.
When he asks her for help with his lines, she quizzically tells him to "promise not to fall in love with me." But he does, and the two endure "West Side Story"-style criticism -- he with his cool-but-cruel crowd, she with her concerned father (Peter Coyote).
Director Adam Shankman ("The Wedding Planner"), working with screenwriter Karen Janszen, keeps the story moving and maintains the book's 1950s feel and scope, even though it has been transplanted to modern day. But two-thirds into the film he bungles the novel's dramatic twist, upsetting the balance between light and maudlin. From there, the sugar only hardens.
The supporting cast is never really fleshed out; there's even a Token Black Guy (refer to "Not Another Teen Movie") added for the film who's completely out of place. (If you're going for ethnic diversity, guys, make him do something more than cool handshakes and saying "booty" all the time.)
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What saves the film is the chemistry between the two leads. West plays an extension of his television character but does a convincing job with Landon's transformation. Moore, in dyed-brown hair and baggy jumpers for her first leading role, affably eschews the mug-and-pose yearnings of her music videos (she slips only when she sings).
The real battle, however, is how Moore's acting is compared to that of Britney Spears, who Moore suffered comparisons to as a singer and whose own debut film, "Crossroads," opens next month. The gauntlet has been thrown down, Britney. We're waiting.
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