Although it would be so easy to apply maxims about love and finding oneself to the movie "The Last Song," this movie doesn't even deserve vague appropriations and connections to reality. With its predictable plot and dreadful acting, the lack of originality in "The Last Song" has cost itself the satisfaction of teenage girls nationwide.
First-time feature director Julie Anne Robinson helms "The Last Song," which is the story of a rebellious teenage girl who has issues with her father. Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) and her brother, Jonah (Bobby Coleman), are sent down to their father's house in Georgia for the summer. Ronnie, a defiant adolescent blessed with a musical gift, stubbornly agrees to stay with her father, Steve (Greg Kinnear), who had left a few years earlier.
Ronnie's cold demeanor is challenged when she meets hunky local Will (Liam Hemsworth), and she is forced to open her heart to a summer romance. Will and Ronnie unite despite their differences; Will comes from a strict, Southern, blue-blood family, and Ronnie must make peace with who she is and how she fits in with this new life and with Will.
Throughout the summer, Steve tries to find a way to reconnect with his daughter. At first, her resistance is overwhelming and discouraging, but a relationship between Ronnie and Steve eventually develops, as expected. Ronnie begins the summer determined to be miserable; she makes the family situation unbearable, shuts out romantic opportunities and refuses her place at Juilliard despite her immense talent as a concert pianist. However, with some coaxing, the "real" Ronnie comes out, and she develops into a decent person despite her original angst.
"The Last Song" is the latest in a string of films based on material written by Nicholas Sparks (who co-wrote the screenplay with Jeff Van Wie). While at first these films seemed innovative and captivating, the repetition of the same romantic plot line and inevitable twist that somehow changes the surviving characters at the end is worn out and exhausted. Sparks has a way of writing love stories that, though they may translate easily to the screen, have become predictable to the point of boredom.
The plot line itself seems mundane and poorly written, especially to audiences who have heard this story many time before. It is a typical scenario: boy meets girl with a chip on her shoulder; she gives him a hard time, but he keeps pursuing her; she finally gives in and finds a way to open her heart up to him.
The thread of the father-daughter relationship is also predictable. The daughter is a rebellious teen who must discover who she is and learn to open up to her father, despite the fact that he hurt her.
Ultimately, the worst thing about this movie is not the mediocre plot line or the poorly written script inspired and written by Sparks — it's the star herself, Cyrus. Despite her attempts, Cyrus ultimately fails at moving from television to the silver screen.
She acts everything on the surface, portraying the stereotypical bad girl instead of analyzing why her character acts that way and expressing it. Cyrus fails to portray the root of the problem — the pain of her father abandoning her — and instead hides in the shell of a rebellious teenager. She also relies on melodramatic teen anger to get her character through a scene.
Her acting skills will make audiences want to storm out of the theater, just as her character does at the end of every scene. She utilizes a total of two facial expressions throughout the movie: staring off vaguely into space and scrunching up her face as if she smells something bad. The only thing that is surprising about Cyrus' acting is her on-screen chemistry with Hemsworth. But, then again, that isn't even acting, as they are currently dating in real life.
Miley Cyrus' appalling acting skills, coupled with weak characters and a predictable plot, make this movie one of the worst movies of the season.
