Review - At The Movies (Australia)

SOME SPOILERS

In REMEMBER ME, ROBERT PATTINSON plays an angry young man, Tyler, who blames his very rich father Charles – PIERCE BROSNAN - for the suicide of his older brother. When he gets into a fight one night he’s roughed up quite severely by a policeman, Neil – CHRIS COOPER. As revenge, his friend Aiden – TATE ELLINGTON – suggests he seduce Neil’s daughter Ally – EMILIE DE RAVIN - who is in their World Politics class at college…


Tyler and Ally fall in love and something good seems to come out of the relationship for Tyler. Charles likes Ally, and so do the rest of his family, including his younger sister Caroline – RUBY JERINS.

There is something strange about REMEMBER ME. I found myself disbelieving just about every emotion, every motivation, nothing seemed to hang together so that the whole thing became a bit tedious. And I know ROBERT PATTINSON is every young women’s soulful heartthrob but he’s such a mopey actor. Mind you he isn’t irritating like TATE ELLINGTON who plays his mate.

But the women are good. Young EMILIE DE RAVIN is lovely as Ally and even younger RUBY JERINS is a revelation as Caroline, she’s fabulous. And even though I get the ending, I don’t really. This is the second feature of Allen Coulter who made Hollywoodland.

It’s based on a screenplay by newcomer Will Fetters. I think their aim was high, the reach a bit less.
Review by Margaret Pomeranz

Further comments

MARGARET: David?

DAVID: I think Allen Coulter has done a lot of television, hasn't he?

MARGARET: Yes.

DAVID: The Sopranos and things like that.

MARGARET: Yes, and Sex and City.

DAVID: I thought this was a really interesting film and you didn't mention that really both of the young people have tragedies in their past, because the girl's mother was killed, as we see in the very opening scene, in a quite stupid shooting on a subway station platform, and that's why she has this idea, as she says in the scene we saw, that you've got to - life may end anytime. You know, you've got to live for the day and so on.

MARGARET: But didn't you find that a little bit...

DAVID: No, I think, in the context of the character, I found it good. I think Emilie de Ravin is another young Australian actor who is hitting the big time in America.

MARGARET: Yes.

DAVID: I thought she was very good. I think Robert Pattinson is channelling the young James Dean or the young Marlon Brando perhaps a little bit too insistently.

MARGARET: Yes.

DAVID: He was one of the film's executive producers and he obviously wanted to get this part. But, look, I think it's an interesting film and the ending, which obviously we can't talk about, I thought was quite effective. So I'm going to give it three and a half.

MARGARET: No, I actually felt disconnected from this film for a lot of its running time, so I'm only going to give it two and a half.

http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2831133.htm