I expected nausea-inducing romantic comedy – the very essence of the "chick flick" genre. Even the cast threw up warning signs! Robert Pattinson, the bloke from the Twilight franchise who has appeared on every tween magazine cover in the Western world, takes the lead role. I was sure my other half had it spot on when she remarked that she'd bring the tissue box but I’d need a sick bucket (she’s quite the wordsmith).
It’s not that I don’t enjoy romantic comedy; Pretty Woman is a timeless classic that I’ll always go back to. Perhaps it was Pattinson trying to jettison his self-imposed vampire typecast, perhaps it was the rubbish cover art on the DVD, but something made me determined not to like Remember Me. I’d labelled it cheap and tawdry before the end of the opening credits. With that in mind, I was served my first course of humble pie in the opening scenes.
We're presented with an almost deserted train platform; then a bungled mugging goes wrong, and ends in a murder. A young girl watches as her mother bleeds to death. It's hardly 10 Things I Hate About You. This was an interesting opening. I was actually watching this movie.
The plot immediately brings us forward in time to the present day. Pattinson is introduced as the brooding nihilist Tyler Hawkins. His main aims in life appear to be chain smoking, looking despondent, having messy hair, not shaving, and engaging in general douchebaggery.
Here, I thought the character development could have been a little more refined. Allen Coulter (Director) ticks virtually every cliché in the book for adolescent misfit. We get it Allen, he’s pissed off at the world. A little sprinkling of subtlety wouldn’t have gone amiss.
We learn that Tyler’s older brother committed suicide on his 22nd birthday and the emotional fallout has broken his family apart. His mother remarried, his father (Pierce Brosnan) has consumed himself with work to avoid confronting his feelings. The only person that Tyler has a healthy relationship with is his talented, perhaps slightly precocious younger sister Caroline (Ruby Jerins).
Then the monotony of Tyler’s life is interrupted when he is caught up in a fracas with an overzealous NYPD officer (Chris Cooper) that results in a brief visit to a jail cell. Shortly after, Tyler’s flatmate sees the same cop drop his daughter off at college. The resemblance to the girl standing on the train platform is clear. Meanwhile, Tyler agrees to seduce Ally (Emilie de Ravin) then unceremoniously dump her in a cruel act of revenge.
Predictably, things don’t quite go according to plan. Tyler falls for Ally and any intention to cuckold her are soon forgotten. I was quite impressed with how Coulter and Will Fetters (Writer) develop Tyler and Ally’s romantic engagement. Set against a backdrop of broken and dysfunctional family life, the two come to depend on each other. The film uses a series of plausible events and scenarios to bring raw passion and emotion to life in an unexpectedly mature fashion. There’s even some on-screen chemistry between Pattinson and de Ravin. Bravo.
Remember Me is shot entirely in New York City, which doesn’t become crucial to the fabric of the storyline until the final scenes. Most the sets are well put together; the hovel that Tyler and his chum Aidan (Tate Ellington) share is suitably filthy, whilst Charles Hawkins (Brosnan) looks down on an empire from a vast executive office and board room, in stark contrast to everything his son represents.
So what holds Remember Me back from being a genuinely good movie? It’s too clichéd. Too many scenes are shot with moody blue filters that cast a morose atmosphere over everything. Pattinson overdoes the brooding. His teen angst is sufficient enough to warrant ownership of a guitar, but despite several references in the dialogue he never once demonstrates the ability to play it. When Pattinson and Cooper confront each other, the scene feels disjointed and awkward.
All of this is a shame, because Remember Me has a script full of damaged characters and a story that says something about the power of loss and love. For that reason, it brings out honest performances from both the leading actors, with Brosnan putting in a good turn in a supporting role. If only Remember Me’s makers, including Pattinson who is credited as an executive producer, had stuck to the merits of the story I think they’d have been on to something.
That only leaves the end to mention. I’m not going to give it away here, but if you read reviews from the US, especially any from a New York press or media channel, you’ll soon get the idea. Was it a cheap attempt to saddle an average film with greater significance? No. I don’t think so. The twist is handled delicately and respectfully. Remember Me is not trying to be a film about a tragedy, it just tries a little too hard to be convincing.