Robert Pattinson takes a break from being a mopey, emo vampire, only to find himself in familiar territory in this by the numbers romantic drama.
If you haven’t already guessed, I’m not a fan of Twilight. Indeed I cannot fathom the current obsession with vampires, they’re pale, creepy and depressing! There’s absolutely nothing swoon worthy about them whatsoever. Having said this I was determined to go into Remember Me with an open mind. I have nothing against Pattinson himself, indeed my only experience with him as an actor is his small role as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire. Hardly long enough to form an opinion on his acting ability.
In Remember Me, Pattinson plays Tyler Hawkins, an emotionally troubled young man attending NYU. He doesn’t talk to his dad anymore, (a hotshot lawyer played by Pierce Brosnan) not since his brother’s suicide… and only has time for his artistic younger sister (Ruby Jerins). Happy to drift through life, attending university periodically while getting in fights with his slacker flatmate, it’s not until he meets fellow classmate Ally (the lovely Emile de Ravin, Lost) that he can pull himself from a quagmire of self-pity.
Too bad the real reason behind Tyler meeting Ally is that she’s the daughter of the cop (Chris Cooper) who arrested him the night before, and his flatmate thinks it’s a great idea to get back at him. You can see where this is going already… Tyler plays along, Tyler realises she’s actually pretty damn awesome, Tyler finds out she’s carrying similar emotional baggage (her mum was killed in front of her as a kid – can you get more messed up than that?!) Tyler has a cathartic moment…
If the story is predictable, at least the performances are solid. Pattinson is well versed in adolescent angst and it’s not much of a step to turn that into ‘angry young man’. He shares great chemistry with De Ravin, while strong support is on show from Cooper and Brosnan. Cooper shows the turmoil his character faces, knowing he may lose his daughter, the last thing he holds close to him. Brosnon subtly hints at his characters regret over the breakdown of his relationship with Tyler, even if he does a good job at hiding it.
The film plods along ticking all the genre buttons, yet never captured me emotionally. Not because the performances were bad, just the script and direction were a bit heavy handed for me, especially the ending. I don’t want to give it away but it will be the most talked about element of the film when it’s released. Some people will be affected. I was left annoyed.
2 1/2 Stars