A WALK TO REMEMBER – MOVIE REVIEW

(Based on the book by Nicholas Sparks)

Cast

Mandy Moore as Jamie Sullivan

Shane West as Landon Carter

Directed by

Adam Shankman

Written by

Karen Janszen

The singer Mandy Moore, a natural beauty in both face and manner, stars as Jamie Sullivan,

an outsider at school who is laughed at because she stands apart, has values, and always

wears the same ratty blue sweater. Her father (Peter Coyote) is a local minister. Shane

West plays Landon Carter, a senior boy who hangs with the popular crowd but is shaken

when a stupid dare goes wrong and one of his friends is paralyzed in a diving accident. He

dates a popular girl and joins in the laughter against Jamie. Then, as punishment for the

prank, he is ordered by the principal to join the drama club: "You need to meet some new

people." Jamie's in the club. He begins to notice her in a new way. He asks her to help him

rehearse for a role in a play. She treats him with level honesty. She isn't one of those losers

who sulk around feeling put upon; her self-esteem stands apart from the opinion of her peers.

She's a smart, nice girl, a reminder that one of the pleasures of the movies is to meet good

people.

Jamie's serene example makes Landon into a nicer person--encourages him to become more

sincere and serious, to win her where she approaches him while he's with his old friends and

says, "See you tonight," and he says, "In your dreams." When he turns up at her house, she is

hurt and angry, and his excuses sound lame even to him.

The movie walks a fine line with the Peter Coyote character, whose church Landon attends.

Movies have a way of stereotyping reactionary Bible-thumpers who are hostile to teen

romance. There is a little of that here; Jamie is forbidden to date, for example, although

there's more behind his decision than knee-jerk strictness. But when Landon goes to the Rev.

Sullivan and asks him to have faith in him, the minister listens with an open mind.

Soon enough Jamie tells him she’s dying of cancer and that is why he should not have fallen

for her. Some parts entirely distinct from the book made it even better such as Jamie’s to-do

list. It was beautiful and what made it so beautiful was how different it was from the goals

people usually set for themselves. If our goals are for the long run, hers were the sweet little

things that a dying person would want to do. The unfortunate incident at the college where

one of Jamie’s friends Photoshoped her face on a half-naked model thus, embarrassing her

and the only one she turned to, at that moment of distress, was Landon.

There was a sort of brilliancy in the way he fell for her, the simple girl from school, in spite

of her asking him not to fall for her. He wasn’t scared of death but only of losing her so he

did everything in his power to make her last days worthwhile.

Her last wish on her list was to get married. Landon did not think twice and proposed. And as

she walked down the aisle he saw just how beautiful she was and knew for a fact that this a

was a walk he would always remember.