The Best of Me

A rather typical Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Best of Me follows high-school sweethearts Amanda (Michelle Monaghan) and Dawson (James Marsden) as they reunite after the death of a close friend (Gerald McRaney’s Tuck) – with the movie also containing a number of flashbacks detailing the trajectory of Amanda (Liana Liberato) and Dawson’s (Luke Bracey) ill-fated romance. The Best of Me generally unfolds in as predictable and familiar a manner as one might’ve anticipated, as filmmaker Michael Hoffman suffuses the proceedings with the various elements associated with movies of this ilk – including picturesque shots of North Carolina, a sweet yet idealized romance, and a plethora of obstacles standing in the central couple’s way. The movie manages to sustain the viewer’s interest from start to finish, however, due mostly to the efforts of an extremely capable cast, with Monaghan and Marsden delivering above average work that’s heightened by their palpable chemistry together. (Bracey and Liberato are good, too, but the obvious age difference between the actors ensures that their scenes are more creepy than romantic.) It’s ultimately clear that Hoffman, along with scripters Will Fetters and J. Mills Goodloe, tests one’s patience with a pace that’s almost unreasonably languid, with the protracted third act, which seems to pile on one complication after another, ensuring that The Best of Me peters out to a rather demonstrable degree – thus confirming the film’s place as a competent yet somewhat underwhelming adaptation.

**1/2 out of ****