I could have forgiven a lot about this film. I always try to respect a movie's genre. This was a romantic comedy/fantasy so I wasn't expecting Kramer vs. Kramer. I could accept the melodramatic premise (beautiful dying girl falls in love with/tries to "save" handsome self-involved young man from himself) but most of the movie just didn't sit well with me. When trying to gather my overall impression, my mind can't help but "bring up" the scene where Sara is vomiting on the floor of her bedroom.
I really don't think I was asking for much. Instead, I think the movie demanded too much. Suspending my disbelief was a fair requirement. I actually consider it part of the fun. However all the fun began to vanish when the movie decided to take itself more seriously than it had the right to. At this point, its demands became disturbing and somewhat devious.
(As noted by other reviewers) The movie shamelessly plugged every cliché ever recorded on celluloid: rain-soaked confrontations, public declarations, cute animals, needy children, convenient diseases, gay/minority best friends with a heart of gold - but no real life of their own, and BAD SINGING! Yet the movie still felt that it could (and SHOULD) present itself as a somber tribute to the pain of life and love.
The repeated and ridiculously heavy-handed diatribes about Sara's trying to, "control her uncontrollable circumstances" and, "die with dignity" seemed as if they were beamed in to give all the preceding romantic fluffiness weight. I have no problem with those arguments, but they belonged in another movie and appeared extremely contrived.
Dying young is perhaps the ultimate example of life's unfairness, but to try to make a movie that is both eye candy and reality tale is almost as unfair.
I really don't think I was asking for much. Instead, I think the movie demanded too much. Suspending my disbelief was a fair requirement. I actually consider it part of the fun. However all the fun began to vanish when the movie decided to take itself more seriously than it had the right to. At this point, its demands became disturbing and somewhat devious.
(As noted by other reviewers) The movie shamelessly plugged every cliché ever recorded on celluloid: rain-soaked confrontations, public declarations, cute animals, needy children, convenient diseases, gay/minority best friends with a heart of gold - but no real life of their own, and BAD SINGING! Yet the movie still felt that it could (and SHOULD) present itself as a somber tribute to the pain of life and love.
The repeated and ridiculously heavy-handed diatribes about Sara's trying to, "control her uncontrollable circumstances" and, "die with dignity" seemed as if they were beamed in to give all the preceding romantic fluffiness weight. I have no problem with those arguments, but they belonged in another movie and appeared extremely contrived.
Dying young is perhaps the ultimate example of life's unfairness, but to try to make a movie that is both eye candy and reality tale is almost as unfair.