Remember Me remarkably forgettable

By Jackie Ammons     3/18/10 7:00pm

Sometimes even a movie can have an identity crisis. Such is the case with Remember Me, a film that promotes itself as a coming-of-age drama, yet mixes themes of death and deep loss with scenes of romantic bonding. The question of whether Remember Me is a drama, dramedy or action film is never fully answered because the plot has no real direction. Then again, Remember Me is less focused on plot than it is on serving up an intensely emotional Robert Pattinson as eye candy for the audience.Remember Me begins when Ally (Emilie de Ravin, "Lost") witnesses her mother's murder in a New York City subway just before her police investigator father (Where the Wild Things Are's Chris Cooper) rushes to the scene. Ten years later, Ally's life connects with that of Tyler Hawkins (New Moon's Robert Pattinson) after he has a run-in with Ally's father. On a dare from his goofy friend Aidan (The Invention of Lying's Tate Ellington), he decides to date Ally as revenge on her father.

As often happens in these sorts of films, Ally and Tyler fall in love. Along the way, each helps the other deal with their respective family issues with Ally's father, Tyler's father (The Ghost Writer's Pierce Brosnan) and Tyler's younger sister (Ruby Jerins, "Nurse Jackie"). Though the audience certainly expects these plot developments, the film's emotional climax comes off as forced, using a wide-reaching and tragic historical event as a simple plot device to end the film.

While the film follows the lives and problems facing a group of people, it lacks any sense of character development or ultimate change in the film's status quo. Tyler is consistently moody and finds no real purpose in life before the end of the film. Just the same, Ally never truly reconciles with her angry father; she returns to his home at the end of the movie merely because she has no other place to go.

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Brosnan's character, in fact, seems to experience the greatest shift in the film: He transitions from an extreme workaholic with no time for his family to a loving father just before the film's conclusion. However, this change in his character seems contrived, for the catalyst of his transition is relatively petty - he feels spurred to spend time with his daughter only after a school bully cuts off her hair. Even Brosnan himself seems an odd choice to appear in this film, as he plays an emotional, middle-aged father - a far cry from the strong, young action figure in his iconic James Bond films.

The producers at least get the casting right with Pattinson as the main character. Exuding his now-famous angst he honed in his role as a vampire in Twilight and New Moon, Pattinson provides the film its largest chance for box-office success. Many moviegoers may be put off by Remember Me's shoddy plot line, but those among Pattinson's cult following will likely sit through the film without complaint.

But then again, let's hope moviegoers can resist getting sucked into the Pattinson hype, saving themselves from wasting two long hours watching nothing more than pointless, angsty Remember Me. The film, after all, is nothing but forgettable.

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