Forever My Girl
1.5/4
Starring: Alex Roe, Jessica Rothe, John Benjamin Hickey, Abby Ryder Fortson, Tyler Riggs, Peter Cambor
Rated PG for Thematic Elements including Drinking, and for Language
"Forever My Girl" is a conservative, small-town country romance in the vein of Nicholas Sparks. It's also uproariously funny, but not intentionally. Why? Maybe it's because the melodrama is pumped up to an 11. Maybe it's because the stars have looks and presence, but not much talent. Or maybe it's because the screenplay contains more howlers than most comedies. When the lead character spends a significant portion of the movie in a state of internalized angst, you're in trouble.
Liam Page (Roe) is a country music superstar. Of course, he left his girlfriend Josie (Rothe) at the altar to get there. Eight years later, Liam has become the celebrity cliche: spoiled, strung-out and on the verge of collapse. He only realizes this when he hears on the news that his best friend back home was killed by a drunk driver. He decides to go home, but it's not that easy. Going from the preacher's golden child to an egotistical monster has left more than a few open wounds for Josie and his father (Hickey). And there's a daughter Billie (Forston) that he never knew he had. Will some down-home tough love and a trip down memory lane make him realize what he's become and what he's missed? Will he get the girl? Do you even have to ask?
Director Bethany Ashton Wolf pulls out all of the stops in her sophomore feature film. And I mean all of them. The melodrama and would-be nostalgia are laid on so thick that one could mistake it for a biting satire of Nicholas Sparks movies. I'm not against sudsy old-fashioned romances (hey, I gave "The Notebook" a 3.5/4 and harbor no guilt or shame for it), but there's a line between aiming for nostalgia and aiming for the "God's Not Dead" crowd. And this movie crosses it as soon as Liam shows up for the funeral.
On the acting front, the film isn't much better. Both Alex Roe and Jessica Rothe are photogenic and can at least deliver dialogue without it sounding like fingernails on the chalkboard, but I have a feeling that they were cast more for their physical attributes than their thespian abilities. Neither can say they deliver performances beyond a high school theater production, but at least they have a certain amount of chemistry together. John Benjamin Hickey is meant to be the begrudging fogie who is on hand to point out the errors in Liam's ways, but he's practically invisible. Abby Ryder Fortson is so cute and precocious that I frequently rolled my eyes (come to think of it, I did that a lot in this movie). It made me wish for McKenna Grace in last year's infinitely smarter and more honest "Gifted."
Also hamstringing the film is that everyone is a complete moron. For example, at the start of the film Liam is so spoiled he doesn't know how to order something off the internet. Or when he gets his father a new coffee machine, the old man has to read post-it notes through his reading glasses to figure it out. And Billie's aversion to riding in convertibles is pathetic. These instances are meant to make the characters seem lovable, funny and down-to-earth, but it really just made me wonder how any of them figured out how to walk upright and talk.
To be fair, there are moments that do work. There's enough of a spark between the two leads that when they share the screen, the film is on surer ground. And the scene when Josie tells Phoebe the truth about Liam is priceless. But for every scene that works, there are five that don't. Such as when Liam stands outside Josie's house screaming her name (in the rain, of course). Or when Liam tries to escape the creepiest one-night stand I've seen in a movie in a long time.
I could almost recommend this movie for the cinematic trainwreck that it is. "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and connoisseurs of bad movies will love this. For everyone else, there's Mastercard.
Or just the opportunity to see something that's actually worth your time.
Starring: Alex Roe, Jessica Rothe, John Benjamin Hickey, Abby Ryder Fortson, Tyler Riggs, Peter Cambor
Rated PG for Thematic Elements including Drinking, and for Language
"Forever My Girl" is a conservative, small-town country romance in the vein of Nicholas Sparks. It's also uproariously funny, but not intentionally. Why? Maybe it's because the melodrama is pumped up to an 11. Maybe it's because the stars have looks and presence, but not much talent. Or maybe it's because the screenplay contains more howlers than most comedies. When the lead character spends a significant portion of the movie in a state of internalized angst, you're in trouble.
Liam Page (Roe) is a country music superstar. Of course, he left his girlfriend Josie (Rothe) at the altar to get there. Eight years later, Liam has become the celebrity cliche: spoiled, strung-out and on the verge of collapse. He only realizes this when he hears on the news that his best friend back home was killed by a drunk driver. He decides to go home, but it's not that easy. Going from the preacher's golden child to an egotistical monster has left more than a few open wounds for Josie and his father (Hickey). And there's a daughter Billie (Forston) that he never knew he had. Will some down-home tough love and a trip down memory lane make him realize what he's become and what he's missed? Will he get the girl? Do you even have to ask?
Director Bethany Ashton Wolf pulls out all of the stops in her sophomore feature film. And I mean all of them. The melodrama and would-be nostalgia are laid on so thick that one could mistake it for a biting satire of Nicholas Sparks movies. I'm not against sudsy old-fashioned romances (hey, I gave "The Notebook" a 3.5/4 and harbor no guilt or shame for it), but there's a line between aiming for nostalgia and aiming for the "God's Not Dead" crowd. And this movie crosses it as soon as Liam shows up for the funeral.
On the acting front, the film isn't much better. Both Alex Roe and Jessica Rothe are photogenic and can at least deliver dialogue without it sounding like fingernails on the chalkboard, but I have a feeling that they were cast more for their physical attributes than their thespian abilities. Neither can say they deliver performances beyond a high school theater production, but at least they have a certain amount of chemistry together. John Benjamin Hickey is meant to be the begrudging fogie who is on hand to point out the errors in Liam's ways, but he's practically invisible. Abby Ryder Fortson is so cute and precocious that I frequently rolled my eyes (come to think of it, I did that a lot in this movie). It made me wish for McKenna Grace in last year's infinitely smarter and more honest "Gifted."
Also hamstringing the film is that everyone is a complete moron. For example, at the start of the film Liam is so spoiled he doesn't know how to order something off the internet. Or when he gets his father a new coffee machine, the old man has to read post-it notes through his reading glasses to figure it out. And Billie's aversion to riding in convertibles is pathetic. These instances are meant to make the characters seem lovable, funny and down-to-earth, but it really just made me wonder how any of them figured out how to walk upright and talk.
To be fair, there are moments that do work. There's enough of a spark between the two leads that when they share the screen, the film is on surer ground. And the scene when Josie tells Phoebe the truth about Liam is priceless. But for every scene that works, there are five that don't. Such as when Liam stands outside Josie's house screaming her name (in the rain, of course). Or when Liam tries to escape the creepiest one-night stand I've seen in a movie in a long time.
I could almost recommend this movie for the cinematic trainwreck that it is. "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and connoisseurs of bad movies will love this. For everyone else, there's Mastercard.
Or just the opportunity to see something that's actually worth your time.
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