Endless Love

A remake of the eponymous 1981 film, Endless Love details the sultry, forbidden romance that ensues between two teenagers (Alex Pettyfer’s David and Gabriella Wilde’s Jade) over the course of one long summer – with Jade’s father, Hugh (Bruce Greenwood), providing the most vocal opposition to the unlikely pairing. It’s an almost excessively conventional premise that is, at the outset, employed to surprisingly agreeable effect, as filmmaker Shana Feste has infused the proceedings with an unabashedly soapy feel that’s generally quite difficult to resist. The movie’s lush atmosphere is heightened and perpetuated by the various performances, and although Pettyfer makes for the least convincing teenager since Ian Ziering, the palpable chemistry between the two leads goes a long way towards sustaining the easygoing, affable vibe. (It doesn’t hurt, either, that Greenwood’s role is much, much bigger than one might’ve anticipated, with the actor’s typically engrossing performance generally holding his character’s more overtly one-dimensional attributes at bay.) It’s only as the protagonists are predictably torn apart that Endless Love begins to lose its already-tenuous grip on the viewer, with Feste and Joshua Safran’s screenplay tossing in everything but the kitchen sink in an effort to keep things going – which consequently does mute the impact of the movie’s uplifting, romantic finale. The end result is a relentlessly erratic remake that certainly could have been worse, all things considered, and yet it’s ultimately clear that the film overstays its welcome to a degree that’s nothing short of disastrous.

** out of ****