Review of If I Stay (2014) by Spangle — 13 Jan 2015

Many will hate If I Stay because it is, well, very much a chick flick at times. But, even as a guy, I managed to enjoy this one on varying levels. At times, the romance was very, very cheesy. It was over the top and felt very unrealistic.

On top of that, this one can be incredibly melodramatic. However, in saying that, there are many redeeming qualities for If I Stay that I truly feel outweigh the negative. For one, Chloe Grace Moretz is great.

She oddly cannot seem to cry, sure, but she was very good. On top of that, this one got me to cry just a little bit at times, which was not what I expected at all. While a lot of it felt very authentic romance wise, emotionally, this one was on point and certainly did a great job there and managed to wind up being a very touching film.

The script is also fine, not great, but it got the job done and the cinematography worked well for the most part with some good and some bad. The music is also very good on this one and really completed the film nicely.

However, the real reason why I like this one is because of the supernatural element here regarding death. Death fascinates me and this one had a very interesting twist on the whole idea of death, which certainly piqued my interest in that regard.

While If I Stay is far off from an Oscar winner, it is a fine film that does not deserve the amount of hatred it has received from some.