Sparks sings up a stinker

By Jackie Ammons     4/8/10 7:00pm

Think of novelist Nicholas Sparks as the Stephen King of the romance genre. He consistently churns out novels that are easily adapted into tear-jerking movies: Novel quality notwithstanding, he explores profound sadness, passionate romance and time-honored life lessons about family, and audiences eat it up. The latest Sparks novel-turned-flick, The Last Song, follows this pattern, with Disney Channel star Miley Cyrus stepping in as Sparks' leading lady. But while the addition of a teenage superstar to the mix makes the film's cast slightly more youthful compared to past Sparks adaptations, there is really nothing truly original about The Last Song. It fails to top Sparks' most acclaimed novel-to-movie incarnations, such as The Notebook and A Walk to Remember.The Last Song begins with Ronnie (Hannah Montana: The Movie's Cyrus), a rebellious teenager, being sent with her brother (Post Grad's Bobby Coleman) to live with their father (Green Zone's Greg Kinnear) in Georgia for the summer. While she stays at her father's beach house, Ronnie rediscovers her passion for playing the piano, befriends an abused neighborhood girl (The Consultants' Carly Chaikin), works to repair her relationship with her father and manages to fall in love with volleyball hunk Will (Triangle's Liam Hemsworth).

The plot is typical Sparks territory, and there is simply nothing original about it. Audiences have certainly seen Sparks match young, unlikely couples who fall deeply in love, as in 2002's A Walk to Remember. They have also seen young people learn to better understand their parents, like Allie does in 2004's The Notebook. Even The Last Song's beach setting is reminiscent of Sparks' 2008 Nights in Rodanthe and this year's Dear John; however, in a feeble attempt to mix things up, this time the heroine's love interest is a volleyball player instead of a surfer.

In fact, the only surprising aspect of the film's storyline is Will and Ronnie's relatively uncomplicated romantic relationship. Unlike most romantic characters in Sparks' films, Will and Ronnie find love without enduring supreme hardships, marriages, divorces or multiple years of separation before eventually coming together. But this is the only way the film attempts to move beyond its numerous predecessors. Sparks has a formula, and he's sticking with it.

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Thankfully, what The Last Song lacks in its storyline, it partially atones for in its casting choices. Given that this is Cyrus' first meaty role after "Hannah Montana" fame, she performs surprisingly well as a rebellious teenager who learns to break out of her shell and embrace her former love of music. Coleman's part as the funny younger brother Jonah adds appreciated comic relief to this otherwise serious movie, and Kinnear is quite convincing as a father, skillfully developing his character's existence from an energetic father of two to a hospital patient struggling with cancer.

For those looking to see something new, The Last Song isn't it. The film seems more a compilation of other Sparks romantic dramas than an original work, which even exceptional casting cannot fix. Ultimately, the trite plot gives Cyrus, Kinnear and Coleman only so much to work with. Worse yet, The Last Song probably won't be the last of Sparks' formulaic romances.

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