"Isn't it amazing how life is one thing and then, in an instant, it becomes something else?" asks Mia Hall (played by Chloë Grace Moretz), the teenaged girl at the center of "If I Stay," released in August. When a car crash changes her life and family forever, Mia falls into a coma, hovering near death. While her body lies unconscious, however, Mia has an out-of-body experience, rendering her aware of her surroundings and the aftermath of the accident. Given the pain and trauma that has abruptly transformed her life, Mia has an impossible choice before her. Will she live and deal with pain, loss and grief, or choose death?
This is the adrenaline-inducing premise of "If I Stay," the film adaptation of Gayle Foreman's 2009 young adult novel by the same name. However, even the heat of a life-or-death decision doesn't keep "If I Stay" warm. Far from it. The wintery setting and the frosty relationship between Mia and her boyfriend, Adam (Jamie Blackley), make the film itself feel cool, if not tepid. Given the critical nature of Mia's condition, the pacing of the film is surprisingly leisurely, even lazy at points, draining urgency from the story.
On one hand, "If I Stay" is utterly unoriginal. Mia's extended family and friends gather around to support the Halls in their time of need, seeming to prove that in the face of tragedy, "family" takes on a broader definition. Her young romance with Adam is forged by a mutual love of music (he's in a band and she plays the cello). But predictably, the relationship is strained by Mia's dream of attending Julliard, a school across the country from their hometown of Portland, Oregon. While these tried-and-true (if tired) plot points may not be fatal flaws, they aren't what audiences have come to expect from the genre.
Part of a clump of other popular works of young adult fiction brought to the big screen in recent memory, "If I Stay" can't quite measure up to the competition. Not as viscerally thrilling as the "Hunger Games" series (2012 - present), as politically pointed as "The Giver" (2014) nor as romantically touching as "The Fault in Our Stars" (2014), "If I Stay" is the underachieving, slightly embarrassing cousin at the family reunion.
However, rather than being simply disappointing, or even aggressively ordinary, this film rises above the rest in its own way. "If I Stay" features some supremely quirky, even bizarre, moments. If only they awarded Oscars for Weirdest Motion Picture.
An acoustic version of Beyoncé's "Halo" (2008), mixed in with a soundtrack of classical cello and rock songs, is perhaps the best example of "If I Stay's" particular brand of eccentricity. It sounds familiar, but also somehow very wrong.
"If I Stay" also has a strange tendency to cut directly from the film's present to flashbacks of Mia's life pre-accident. Such blink-of-the eye transitions echo the jarring effects of trauma, but regrettably cause confusion within the film's narrative.
Finally, the mushiness of Mia's first sexual encounter is made especially awkward by Adam's suggestion, "think of it like we're playing music together." His prompting leads Mia to compare his body to a cello, making for one of the most uncomfortable love scenes ever. Unfortunately, the lack of chemistry between Moretz and Blackley fizzles any remaining spark of passion the script might have let live. "If I Stay" fails as a love story, no doubt about it.
Despite its multiple shortcomings, though, the film can be sincerely lauded for its portrayal of awkward youth. Here, "If I Stay's" peculiarities and self-consciousness work for the movie instead of against it. In one charming scene, Mia dresses up as a tough "rocker chick" for Halloween to impress Adam. Trying her best to look comfortable while dancing-slash-jumping at his show, Mia is her most vulnerable and her most lovable self. When she is caught deciding who to be, Moretz hones in on the most relatable aspect of her character. Sadly, these moments are all-too-rare.
"If I Stay" is by no means the best movie of the year, or even a winner within its genre. Largely unremarkable except for trademark awkwardness, it is sometimes touching, but entirely miss-able.
