The Best of Me is the newest of a long chain of Nicolas Sparks novels which have been televised. These movies/books are known for being dramatic love stories that boys will dread and girls will line up for, and The Best of Me is no exception.
There are scenes that are painfully cheesy, complete with kissing in the rain, staged acting and dramatic music. The emotional cameos and the underlying theme of destiny and eternal love could cause even the biggest romantic to cringe.
The Best of Me managed to incorporate all of the emotional clichés viewers are all too familiar with from other films. Love at first sight, kids going to prom, and long lost lovers all appear, as well as attempts to pull on heartstrings with the inclusion of parental abuse and death. Everything builds to one painfully long movie.
The striking similarities with other Nicolas Sparks productions, such as The Notebook, reduces this production to just another predictable romance. The concept of soul mates who missed out on their prime years together and were reunited by destiny has been regurgitated by, not only The Notebook, but also One Day, Dear John and many, many more. The overriding metaphors of stars and flowers to symbolize the protagonists’ love (changing but never faltering) seemed equally overused and predictable.
It may be due to this unoriginal concept, the forced acting or the terribly dramatic music, but this particular romance did not succeed in capturing the hearts of the audience and everyone left as they had come, dry eyed, with only their wallets feeling lighter.
This film should come with a clear warning: if you go in hating Nicolas Sparks movies, you are guaranteed to keep your opinion. If you going as a fan, you might just change your mind.