Get If I Stay
CUSTOMER REVIEW
I just finished reading Gayle Forman’s “If I Stay” last night. While emotionally manipulative and lacking closure, I loved it. It was the kind of book I was able to tear through in a day. I loved the main character and didn’t feel like I was reading about a stupid person when reading her narration, something I can’t say for many young adult novel perspectives I’ve witnessed in the past (I’m lookin’ at you, Stephanie Meyer.) With the book still very fresh in my mind, I saw the film today.
Chloe Grace Moretz is a fantastic young star, and she will become this generation’s Julia Roberts, I’m positively sure of it. However, filmmakers need to stop casting her in mousy geek-girl parts. She was simply too pretty to play Stephen King’s Carrie last year, and she’s too pretty to play “If I Stay“‘s Mia. But, the girl can act!
"If I Stay" follows Mia, a young cellist who could very well be going to Julliard School of Music in the fall. Her parents (Mireille Enos and Joshua Leonard) are rockers from the old days who reluctantly grew up when they had Mia and her brother Teddy. Mia’s boyfriend of some time, musician Adam (Jamie Blackley) is bitter about how their lives going in different directions, without one another. One fateful day, when Mia is expecting a potential acceptance letter from Julliard, a terrible car crash takes both of Mia’s parents, leaving Mia’s spirit seeing her worst nightmare unfold before her very eyes, unable to do anything about it, lying in a coma. Although, she may possess all the power - the nurse tells her, "you’re running the show, they’re all waiting on you."
"If I Stay" will unfairly be compared to the summer’s other weepy teen romance, "The Fault in Our Stars." The two movies (and books) are constructed in completely different ways. Both will tug at the heartstrings and probably make the audience cry when it counts, but for different reasons. "If I Stay" is more manipulative, however, because of the way the story is told, which is identical to the book. The car crash is the first scene, and the back story is told in flashbacks, which felt like a refreshing structure.
Moretz is a very talented young actress, and I think she’s getting better every part I see her in. She works hard to nail the big dramatic moments that are so crucial to how this movie plays out. She has an easy chemistry with all of her co-stars, especially Blackley, who could possibly have a very bright career in music ahead of him. You root for their relationship even when they treat each other like crap. Enos is great, also, as Mia’s mother. The parents are portrayed as confidants, and not the borderline antagonists that they sometimes are in YA novels.
"If I Stay" is remarkably faithful to the book, with only positive changes made. There weren’t any scenes or characters missing from the film that I particularly missed. It’s emotionally exhausting, but uplifting and hopeful in all the ways it should be. It’s a nice reminder to watch the way you look at life, to appreciate the little things, because it could all be gone in an instant.
Grade: A-