Terrible things happen to people in
Remember Me, a romantic drama starring
Twilight teen-throb Robert Pattinson and
Lost’s Emilie de Ravin. A mother is gunned down in the New York subway in front of her young daughter. A marriage falls apart after a son’s suicide. A young woman’s father slaps her, splitting her lip. But none of this prepares the viewer for the gratuitous final twist, an epic spoiler already revealed on several movie review sites. Pattinson plays Tyler, a sort of Holden Caulfield by way of James Dean: brooding, poetic, cigarette-smoking, dotes on his clever little sister, idolizes his dead brother and, in rebellion from his rich family, lives in a squalid flat and aimlessly audits college classes. He also has an explosive temper that leads him into, among other things, fights with policemen. He meets Ally (de Ravin), the pretty daughter of the cop (Chris Cooper) who arrested him. They fall in love and, just like Romeo and Juliet, must contend with parental issues (her protective father distrusts delinquent Tyler, and Tyler’s distant dad (Pierce Brosnan) neglects Tyler’s cherished 11-year-old sister (Ruby Jerins). Its unrelieved mournfulness overshadows the movie’s better qualities: Will Fetters’ clever dialogue, a strong cast, and brisk direction by Allen Coulter, known for high-quality television work. But for the
Twilight devotees who are likely its target audience, this brutal, often manipulative melodrama is probably too grim. At an early screening, while the credits rolled, one girl lamented, “I didn’t know it was gonna be so sad!”
