Remembering Remember Me

Good morning fellow TwiLadies, TwiNuts, TwiHards. I am here on this first day of DST 2010 to weigh in on Remember Me. Yesterday I took the granddaughter and son's girlfriend and we ventured to the theater to see Remember Me. Forty-four dollars, three drinks, a large popcorn and a box of Milk Duds later, we settled in to watch Rob Pattinson's first widely released foray where his name wasn't Edward, but Tyler. I'm not sure what my expectations were really or where the movie would take me, but I had hopes. Yes, I did.

I know better than to read movie reviews, but being the nosey person I am, I did read the Dallas Morning News review that appeared Friday March 12, 2010. To say it was scathing is to put it mildly. They sent a man to review this film which was their first mistake. It wasn't hard to tell after the first paragraph that this guy really wanted to review the Green Zone instead and had no respect for Rob Pattinson and whatever talent he has. The guy couldn't get past Rob as Edward. He couldn't get past his hair, his look or the cigarettes. He gave the movie a D which I suppose was better than an F, but still was not fair, not by a long shot.

He panned the script, the director and save for Pierce Brosnan, panned most of the actors. So how was it? It was good. A true chick flick and the absence of men in the audience drove that point home. I counted four actually, drug their by their women or girlfriends. Mostly it was just us girls which I found comforting for some reason. The sisterhood of Rob Pattinson's hair.

Remind me next time though, to never, ever read a script before I see a movie. It was in this point only where I was disappointed. I had found the original script full of irony without the date reminders. The turn at the end would have filmed much more mind blowing than the end of this rewrite did. However, I understand why it was done. Targeting a female audience and because of the PG-13 rating targeting a teenage female audience, the irony would have been lost to them and mothers and grandmothers all over the world would have to explain why the irony if Tyler's brother had died in the Trade Center and Tyler did as well. My granddaughter was born in 1997 and had never heard of the 1993 bombing of the Trade Center.

By changing up the script an argument can be made that Tyler's angst stemmed from his brothers suicide and the fact that he found him after and that he blamed his father for this. I wish that Michael and his fathers relationship could have been explored more. I merely got the feeling that Michael was dad's favorite and that Tyler therefore held his dad responsible for what happened to Michael. It was never discussed or even hinted at what actually pushed Michael over the edge. Perhaps, if Rob had had more time to get the movie shot or if it could have been postponed until later, more script development could have been done. Which I believe would have made for a far better movie. However, for what there was of it, it was good and well done. Chris Cooper was excellent and he and Emilie DeRavin had great father daughter chemistry in their scenes together. And Rob and Emilie had great chemistry together as they related to each others senses of loss in a life must go on sort of way. You could really feel that these two would have made a better life for each other had there been a happily ever after, but you also know that in the end Tyler touched each of their lives in a way that would make all their lives better in one way or another.

I didn't tear up until the shot of Tyler's journal came onto the screen. I suppose it was because I knew what was coming, however the granddaughter's reaction as the camera pulled back from the Trade Center was far worse as the sudden realization sank in of what was going to happen. In fact, looking at the audience it was like the fact that the year 2001 had not even been put on the screen before Tyler and Emilie had first met and seemed to have been lost on the entire audience. Suffice it to say that the gasps from the audience were audible.

Funny what the eye sees and the mind seems to forget in an hour.