Review of The Best of Me (2014) by Dilhara A — 01 Apr 2015

"The Best of Me brings out the worst of Nicholas Sparks".

Movie Review: The Best of Me.

Date Viewed: October 20 2014.

Directed By Michael Hoffman (Soapdish, Restoration, The Last Station, One Fine Day and A Midsummer Night's Dream).

Screenplay By Michael Hoffman, J. Mills Goodloe and Will Fetters, Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks.

Starring: James Marsden, Michelle Monaghan, Luke Bracey, Liana Liberato, Sebastian Arcelus, Jon Tenney, Ian Nelson,.

Caroline Goddall, Sean Bridgers, Rob Mello,.

Hunter Burke and Gerald McRaney.

Hollywood, please let go of Nicholas Sparks.

He doesn't know how to make a good love story and he can't create compelling characters. Not only is "The Best of Me" the worst Nicholas Sparks adaptation to date, it also brings out the worst of him. The movie's main characters are Dawson Cole and Amanda Collier. They are played by James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan in the present and Luke Bracey and Liana Liberato in the past. The casting is troubling because who exactly are the main leads in this movie?

"The Best of Me" has the usual Nicholas Sparks formula, it is set in a small town, it focuses on young love, it has characters who are trying to keep them apart and as always, somebody has to die. Dawson Cole and Amanda Collier are former high school lovers who reunite after 20 years apart. They return to their small town for the funeral of Dawson's friend and mentor Tuck (Gerald McRaney) who has died at the age of 92. What's amazing is that in the beginning, we see Dawson working at an oil rig but when something blows up at the rig, the explosion sends him 100 feet over the railing to the sea below. Somehow, he survives the fall. THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!

Anyways, we then flashback to 1992 where Dawson and Amanda first met and fell in love. Dawson comes from a family of white trash criminals and Amanda comes from a wealthy southern family and we can see where this is going. Luke Bracey who plays the young Dawson Cole certainly doesn't look twenty years younger than James Marsden.

Listen to me Luke, you just played Pierce Brosnan's 30-year-old protege in "The November Man", you're too old for this part.

You think that the young leads were bad enough, some of the supporting characters are even worse. Sean Bridgers who plays Dawson's father maybe one of the worst actors I've ever seen. Not only is he a white trash cliche and a terrible father, he also needs to go to the barbershop because he has a terrible hairstyle. Sebastian Arcelus who plays Amanda's modern-day husband is even worse, he's an uncaring jerk who is always busy with work. What a cliche, can we just have a couple of scenes of him being a caring husband instead of being a total jerk.

Dear Nicholas, you are so unoriginal. You can't create characters or a compelling love story. That's just my opinion. "The Best of Me" was directed by Michael Hoffman who has done some good work, "The Last Station", "Soapdish" and "Restoration". Hoffman is still recovering from his awful remake of "Gambit" which I didn't see and was never released theatrically. The screenplay by J. Mills Goodloe, Will Fetters and Hoffman is cynical and dumb. The movie keeps throwing one revelation after another at us, it's hard to actually care, all you can do is laugh.

James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan are not entirely to blame for this. The only person you can blame for this is Sparks, why do women love him? "The Best of Me" is just more of the same from an author who has run out of ideas. This movie would've fit right at home, at the Lifetime Channel but at least it's better than the 2014 remake of "Endless Love".