Along for the Ride

The 2 leads have absolutely no chemistry. So painful to watch. Best acting in the entire movie is the gas station attendant. She created a character with more depth in her brief appearances. Her $1.75 line had more nuance and emotion than either main character throughout the entire film.

This is a cute high school to college summertime romance. The usual out-of-place, uptight, smart, old soul, sad girl meets: gorgeous, aimless, despondent, biker-boy (BMX, not motorcycle). It did NOT fail to satisfy my appetite for honest, feel good young love. The cliché, of course, is the obvious message to the audience that teens are actually more intelligent and level-headed than their parents. This time I'm not so certain they aren't correct! Her parents are all a few eggs short of an omelette. The insecurity and bursts of emotion are navigated quite superbly, not too overwhelming; but sufficient enough to taste the angst, frustration, and potential for regret. Oh, to be young again. What happened to Kate Bosworth? She only seems to do trailer park these days...

Was it predictable? Yes. Was it simple? Yes. But I wasn't able to stop smiling through the whole film because it was so dang cute. Even though it was as I expected it to be, it was comforting. And definitely not the cheesiest young adult rom com, which is a huge plus.

I grew up ready Sarah Dessen books. I was so excited for this movie when I saw it was announced. However, it barely followed the book. The cute important details were left out and making certain actions not make sense as the backstory was missing. Parts of Auden and Eli's relationship were completely cut out and made it seem like it was very shallow.