If I Stay

This review may contain spoilers!

And so marks the descent into the season of teenage romance films! I would give If I Stay a 6.5/10.

This film was very well told and hit all the dramatic high and low points exceptionally well, of note being the themes of death and youthful ambition within the film. The music within this film is often very exceptional and it is very clear that the music was a major focus. The editing within this film was also quite exceptional and the cinematography gave it a very real depth.

Stacy Keach, who played Gramps, was a surprise for me as he became the breakout star of the film; it was Keach's scenes that had some of the best emotion and finesse in terms of acting. Jakob Davies, who played Teddy, is a wonderful child actor who I hope to see go further in his career; he did a better job than the lead and that's a good indicator of his skill as an actor.

My favourite actor is a sort of bundle deal when it comes to this film as I equally enjoyed Mireille Enos and Joshua Leonard, who played Kat and Denny respectfully. The parent roles were the most comedic and some of the most insightful characters within the film. When they were on camera they felt real and their sacrifices made them seem all the more human as opposed to teen fiction prose parents.

I'm rather sick of how degrading the teen romance is to watch, this is perhaps the closest such a film has come to breaking the boundaries. Yet this film still flounders in the same old stereotypes that drag the drama down into a pit of seething misery and angst.

Chloe Grace Moretz, who played Mia Hall, is a weak leading actress and struggles to pull off the high degree of emotion that is expected of her within this film. Jamie Blackley, who played Adam, was a walking stereotype teenage fantasy and no amount of good singing can forgive the disaster of a character that was represented in that film.