Movie Review: “Endless Love” — It’s Not Great, But Somehow, That’s Okay
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Here’s the best way to enjoy Endless Love: pretend you’re a 14-to-18-year-old girl and try to forget every teen love story you’ve ever seen, because there’s almost nothing new here. If you can get into that headspace, then there’s actually a chance you’ll enjoy this movie.
Endless Love shares a title with the 1979 book and the 1981 film starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt, but except for some slight similarities, 2014’s Endless Love is a dramatically different story. The new version is nowhere near as creepy or tragic as the original, and there’s also no Diana Ross/Lionel Ritchie theme song duet, so there’s not much point in playing the comparison game.
Gabriella Wilde stars as Jade Butterfield, a rich girl graduating high school with no friends. It’s not that she’s stuck up: over the last few years she’s been so consumed dealing with the death of her brother that she missed out on a normal teen life. But wait! Hunky Alex Pettyfer (the young guy from Magic Mike) plays David Elliot, and he’s had his eye on Jade the whole time. He can’t wait to get her out of her shell, and out of her clothes.
From almost the first moment, the story is ridiculously predictable — we’ve seen it a thousand times. The guy from the wrong side of the tracks woos the rich girl, but her dad isn’t down with it and tries to keep them apart. The good girl suddenly becomes not so good, the bad boy (who’s really not all that bad) tries to become better, and there’s lots of swooning and crying and hair products.
But even with all the predictability, clichés and bad American accents (Pettyfer and Wilde are English, and you can tell with both that there’s an accent bubbling under the surface, though he’s a far bigger offender than she is), Endless Love still scratches its intended itch. It’s a teen love story meant for teens, and on that level it works just fine. It’s just hip enough, sappy enough, and dramatic enough. I saw it at a screening packed with teens who’d won tickets on the radio, and they ate it up, clapping with gusto when the credits rolled. A middle-aged woman sitting next to me cried near the end because she got caught up in the schmaltz. And yes, she was embarrassed, but it happened and she went with it.
By the way, Dayo Okeniyi, who plays the comic-relief friend role alongside Pettyfer, deserves a special shout-out. The actor, who’s an up-and-comer with recent roles in The Hunger Games and The Spectacular Now, delivers big laughs in almost every scene in which he appears.
Bottom line: as long as you keep your expectations low, you may get some enjoyment out of Endless Love.
Three out of five stars.
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