30
Metascore
32 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaArizona RepublicRandy CordovaIf you had to update the film for the Instagram generation, you could do a lot worse than what director Shana Feste (“Country Strong”) has come up with. She has crafted a stylish, evocative journey into overheated-teenager territory. For a good chunk of the time, it works.
- 60EmpireAnna SmithEmpireAnna SmithA flowerier adaptation of the Scott Spencer romance than Zeffirelli's '80s version, it's tailor-made for the Nicholas Sparks crowd.
- 58The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe film also contains fleeting moments of authenticity. Most of these come courtesy of Robert Patrick, who plays David’s father, and Greenwood. Together, these two veteran actors turn could-be-thankless “good dad/bad dad” roles into credible depictions of wounded masculinity. Unfortunately, the movie isn’t about them.
- 50McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMcClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreGreenwood and Richardson make a fine, discordant couple and the young leads have a certain chemistry. If only Feste had realized she’d stripped almost all the conflict out of the story.
- 50Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundSlant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundShana Feste's film seems blissfully unaware that great fights require truly substantial conflicts.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyA highly homogenized and sanitized remake that's little better than its 1981 predecessor.
- 30The DissolveKeith PhippsThe DissolveKeith PhippsPettyfer and Wilde look the parts, but any scenes asking them to emote quickly turn disastrous.
- 30VarietyRonnie ScheibVarietyRonnie ScheibIn “The Greatest” (2009) and “Country Strong” (2010), Feste proved herself quite skilled, if not especially innovative, at limning her characters’ emotional travails. But subtlety, complexity and even the slightest modicum of realism elude her here.
- 20Time Out LondonTrevor JohnstonTime Out LondonTrevor JohnstonPettyfer and Wilde (both Brits) look the part in a soft-drinks-commercial way, but their characters might as well be called Ken and Barbie for all the depth they bring to this wish-fulfilment fantasy of social mobility.
- 20Austin ChronicleAustin ChronicleNot to harp on petty details, but this film is so colossally tone-deaf and off-key in every way that its collection of jarring missteps almost carries it into the arms of perverse comedy.