ENDLESS LOVE (2014)

Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Shana Feste
Cast: Alex Pettyfer, Gabriella Wilde, Bruce Greenwood, Robert Patrick, Joely Richardson, Rhys Wakefield, Dayo Okeniyi, Emma Rigby
RunTime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: PG13 (Scene of Intimacy)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: http://www.endlessloveintl.com/splashpage/

Opening Day: 13 February 2014

Synopsis: "Endless Love" stars Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) and Gabriella Wilde (The Three Musketeers) in the story of a privileged girl and a charismatic boy whose instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart.

Movie Review:

We hardly see the point of remaking a movie that is known more for its theme song than anything else, but hey since the reboot of ‘Flashdance’ did not turn out so bad after all, maybe this one of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1981 film of the same name would prove itself worthy too. Unfortunately, this second adaptation of Scott Spencer’s novel of romantic obsession does little more than to put a more glossy finish to the tale, offering up no more than a conventional teen romance that even fails to reproduce the more lurid pleasures of its predecessor.

Yes, you may recall a certain model named Brooke Shields during the 1980s, who back in the day, sold many tickets with the promise of a showcase sex scene that saw her stripping off in front of a roaring fire. That confidently trashy tone is nowhere to be found in director Shana Feste’s remake, which aside from vowing to stay firmly in PG13 territory, has no qualms retreading the path taken by the original. Taking over Brooke Shields’ role is British actress Gabriella Wilde, who plays the rich girl Jade Butterfield that falls hard for David Axelrod (Alex Pettyfer), a boy from the other side of the tracks.

Upon Jade’s graduation from high school, David takes it on himself to draw his crush out of the shell she has been hiding in since the unfortunate death of her brother two years ago. Cue plenty of sun-dappled montages, which has Jade immediately shedding her loner self to seduce a guy who proclaims without batting an eyelid that he has been watching her all through her past four years by stripping down to her bikini at her dad’s lakeside beach house and teases him to join her in the water. You get the idea, it’s that kind of a movie.

The dramatic conflict here comes in the form of Jade’s controlling dad Hugh (Bruce Greenwood), who perceives their increasingly consuming romance to be distracting her from her plans for medical school - never mind what Jade’s mother (Joely Richardson) or her brother (Rhys Wakefield) thinks. So he gets someone to dig up some dirt on David, which basically means unearthing his history of violence that he and his father (Robert Patrick) have tried to put behind themselves - though you’ve probably seen enough to know that Jade will hardly be deterred in her quest for love.

Whereas Zeffirelli’s original was comfortably and confidently trashy, Feste sees her adaptation as a lesson about a young woman who takes control of her destiny and also the lengths she is willing to go to just so she can be with the one she loves. Suffice to say that Feste has toned down significantly the darker edges of the original tale, dropping most prominently the grimmer ending for a much more tween-friendly one. In the process however, she has needed to make a couple of tradeoffs, including turning Greenwood’s initially credible father figure into a pantomime villain who will go to extraordinary lengths just so to keep his daughter and her true love apart.

That leaves the story very much in the hands of its key performers, who are sadly underwhelming to say the least. Pettyfer remains little more than a pretty face, emoting with a one-note ‘I’m pissed off’ expression for almost the whole movie. Wilde is easy on the eye, but she is ultimately vanilla bland. There is a nice easygoing rapport between the pair, but not enough to convince us to buy into their supposedly immense love for each other. In fact, it is the supporting players who steal the show - Greenwood brings more dignity to the role than it deserves; Patrick has a nice down-to-earth appeal as David’s gruff but loveable dad; and Dayo Okeniyi is a welcome presence of levity as David’s goofy pal Mace.

Yet there is little to justify this remake, which is really a stripped down version of a decidedly more vivid modern-day ‘Romeo and Juliet’ love story. At least Zeffirelli was bold enough to retain the criminal carnality in Spencer’s novel; Feste here keeps every frame looking bright and pretty but leaves the rest of the movie shallow and mawkish. And since it doesn’t even give fans of the original the pleasure of the Lionel Ritchie/ Diana Ross song for old times’ sake, this remake is plainly unnecessary. 

Movie Rating:

(A stripped down PG13-lite teenage romance of a much more decidedly trashy original that at least offered some lurid pleasures, this remake is strictly for those between the ages of 13 to 18)

Review by Gabriel Chong