The Best Of Meby Wilson Morales
If you happen to be a fan of Nicholas Sparks and a fan of his books and films, then you know what to expect when watching any of the latter. You will get two attractive leads, a romance, a heartache, a past that waits forever to be reveal and a twist. So in watching his latest film, The Best of Me, while the leads (James Marsden, Michelle Monaghan, Luke Bracey, and Liana Liberato) are all impressive in the roles, the film is a huge letdown due to the script. The third act is so much a nonsensical head scratcher that it takes away the alluring romance fans wanted to walk away with.
Dawson Cole (James Marsden) and Amanda Collier (Michelle Monaghan) are former high school lovers who haven’t seen each other in nearly 20 years. Due to the death of a mutual friend (Gerald McRaney), they are reunited again when each returns home for the reading of his will. Flashing back to their youth, young Dawson (Luke Bracey) grew up in a household of criminals and was constantly being abused by a merciless father (Sean Bridgers). Yet, as much as he tries to stay away from her, he catches the attention of young Amanda (Liana Liberato) who comes from the right side of tracks. Despite her father’s attempts to keep Dawson away, Amanda is too headstrong to let her family get in the way of her love for him.
As the film shifts back and forth between the past and the present, adult Dawson (Dawson) and Amanda (Monaghan) are getting reconnected and going over what’s occurred in their years apart and what led to their breakup. Amanda is a mom and married to an alcoholic neglectful husband while Dawson recently suffered a near-death experience while working on a freighter. The more time they spend together, the love they once had for each other starts to resurrect. Throughout the reunion, the audience is left wondering will they be able to find a connection again despite obstacles?
As mentioned earlier, if you have watched enough adapted films from a Sparks novel, tragedy is inevitable. You are bound to walk in with a handkerchief, as most of his films are designed to make one laugh, cheer, and cry. Yet, despite all this, the performances are okay. It’s good to see Monaghan back in a big spotlight, especially after her performance in HBO’s True Detective. She had been MIA on the main scene since her memorable roles in Mission: Impossible III, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gone Baby Gone, and Eagle Eye. Marsden has had his day in the sun, specifically with the X-Men films. At the same time, she and Marsden have no chemistry compared to their younger versions played by Bracey and Liberto. The film would have worked better if they stuck with these two for a majority of the film like in The Notebook with Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams if they were going for the younger/older version scenario. When Monaghan and Marsden are on the screen, there’s no romance for audiences to root for, and if that’s gone, where’s the story?
The problem that lies with this film is the screenplay adaptation by J. Mills Goodloe and Will Fetters. There’s only much one can ask the audience to accept before throwing them a curveball they can’t get face or process. We can accept the melodrama and the cliche plot points for star-crossed lovers. That’s expected in Nicholas Sparks’ films. When the romance is gone, there’s no way to go and sadly, ‘The Best of Me’ is an unmoving provocative drama that fails to leave audiences satisfied.
