The Last Song (2010)

Best movie of this year hands down!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This was a marginal story line at best... but please why do directors and casting attempt to employ people (and i wont say actors) who simply cannot act? Mylie Cyrus has to be the worst, and most out of placed cast members in this awful flick... . Lets face it she is only there because her dad was famous as she has no acting ability whatsoever Not only that... her character is obviously that of a young attractive woman. Mylie fails in that as well Please Hollywood. Stop putting the children of the once famous in movies, They're there only because of their parents fame and they're ruining it !!

Just as Zac Efron did with films such as 'Me and Orson Welles', fellow teen star Miley Cyrus uses 'The Last Song' as a bridge between Disney kiddie films to adult roles.And while this is admirable I think the fact that she teamed up with Nicholas Sparks, a man who seems quite happy to repeat his 'Notebook' trick for as long as the public can stomach it, for this film.It's sappy, it's overly sentimental, and overall despite the best efforts of Cryrus, this film isn't that good.Cyrus does well in her role, and holds it all together well, but I don't think this was the best choice of project.

This film tells the story of a teenage girl and her brother, who are forced to spend the summer with their father in a southern seaside town. She meets a charming guy and falls for him, but unfortunately life gets in the way."The Last Song" is quite a weak Nicholas Sparks story because it cannot decide what it wants to be. Is it a romantic story between two teenagers, or a drama about an estranged father and daughter relationship? The first half is the former while the second half is the latter. The film appears to be a forced hybrid between the two, and is not helped by the constantly grumpy Miley Cyrus. She and Liam Hemsworth don't even look right together for this film. Fortunately Greg Kinnear is very good as the father who has a secret he can't tell anyone, which saves the film a bit.

I read the book, and absolutely loved it as I do all of Nicholas Sparks books. I think my favourite character in the book was Will because of his charm and for just how lovely and caring he was and although I do think Liam Hemsworth was well suited to the part, there were tiny details about Will that needed to be added from the book to make viewers see how lovely he is and not some ladies man like he is shown to be in the film. I am not a fan of Miley Cyrus but she didn't play an awful part, I still felt emotional with the film as I did with the book but she was very much angry. The film was rushed, one minute she hated her dad then the next minute she loved him and wanted to talk with him, in the book it takes Ronnie such a long time to let someone in, so that irritated me. Also Miley isn't the best actress she didn't play the part brilliantly in my opinion, she was moody yes but she wasn't great at playing the caring daughter. I believe that Gregg Kinnear played a good role and added humour to the film, as Steve was funny in the book, however it did annoy me when he shouted at Ronnie because he never shouted in the book, he was such an amazing dad and I don't think this is portrayed as well in the film. The character which annoyed me the most in the film was Marcus, and he's not suppose to annoy me, he's suppose to be a sociopath and Ronnie is terrified of him, there was no indication of this at all. Such as him stalking her, trying it on with her, a lot and when Blaze caught fire and he just ran off, it was will and Ronnie who saved her. In addition throughout the book Ronnie is worried about her court date for which Blaze is to blame, it never showed Blaze visiting the police and telling the police what she did and how Marcus was the one who started the fire not Scott. This then led a false sense of why Ronnie was angry with Will and dumped him, she was angry because Pastor Harris (who's not even in the film and plays a large role in the book) was injured in the fire. Lastly I believe the actor playing Jonah was very much well suited to his role, very much how I imagined him in the book. However Ronnie's mum Kim I wasn't so keen on in the book, it never revealed that the reason her parents divorced was because she had an affair and then lied to her children saying that Steve left and had another woman, Kim was to blame for Ronnie not talking to her Dad for 3 years. Overall it is a good film, the book's better, but they always are. I love how they added the stain glass window into the film as that is a very special moment. However they mixed things up, such as portraying Will as a ladies man when he wasn't, he was with Ashley for 2 years and how fast they fall in love doesn't reveal small details of why Will loves her. The film was great and it does have a teary end, but as does the book which I would definitely recommend.