The Longest Ride
Director: George Tillman, Jr
Starring: Scott Eastwood, Britt Robertson, Alan Alda, Jack Huston, Oona Chaplin
Three stars
Ever since The Notebook made moviegoers swoon in 2004, Nicholas Sparks's name has been synonymous with teary-eyed romance.
The author's latest novel adapted for the big screen, The Longest Ride, is no exception, offering two love stories at once. But the most heartfelt affair here isn't between its impossibly good-looking stars – it's shared by a couple 70 years their senior through a story told in flashbacks.
Sophia (Britt Robertson) and Luke (Scott Eastwood, son of Clint) are the younger pair. She’s an art-history student with plans to work in a New York gallery. He’s a competitive bull rider trying to claim the national title. They meet when her friends persuade her to go to the rodeo.
A convoluted and unrealistic set of circumstances lead them to meet Ira (Alan Alda), a widowed curmudgeon who clings to a collection of love letters he wrote to his late wife. Through these, the young couple, and the audience, learn about Ira’s love affair with Ruth. Told through extended, sepia-tinted flashbacks, the young Ira (Jack Huston) and Ruth (Oona Chaplin) share the kind of romance that movies are made for.
It was love at first sight for the two, who meet in the early days of the Second World War. By the time he’s called to serve, they’re a couple; Ruth waits for Ira until his war is over. Despite years of personal challenges, they keep their marriage intact. While ostensibly meant to illustrate the timeless nature of romance, the richness of this relationship makes its modern foil seem superficial by comparison.
Eastwood is a fitting cowboy – handsome and sculpted, with a touch of his dad’s famous swagger. He’s believable as a bull rider and shows enough vulnerable charm to be a romantic lead. The cherubic, pillow-lipped Robertson makes for a fine potential partner. She’s pretty and sweet, yet headstrong and focused on her future. But they lack the fireworks, and just plain fire, to be a truly convincing on-screen romance. The script by Craig Bolotin sets up each couple as sacrificing for love, but Sophia and Luke’s struggle just doesn’t seem as serious.
Still, the film is likely to satisfy Sparks fans. And it does bring something new to the romance genre: bull riding.
artslife@thenational.ae
