Valentine’s Marathon: The Last Song (2012)

The Last Song maybe hold the personal record of a DVD I’ve owned and haven’t seen for the longest amount of time.  Part of the reason I pushed forward for this marathon is so that I make myself watch it.  When this movie first was released, I went out and got the novel to read.  The novel didn’t disappoint at all and I actually enjoyed it but unlike Dear John where I could picture their lead roles as the couple, I could not picture Miley Cyrus in the lead role here…I just couldn’t.  Let me just say, my expectations are EXTREMELY low.  So, really, this movie cannot suck more than it does in my mind already.  I’m trying to stay objective as I push play…Maybe there will be a surprise waiting for me 🙂

Director: Julie Anne Robinson

Cast: Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, Greg Kinnear, Bobby Coleman, Kelly Preston, Hallock Beals

Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) and her brother Danny (Bobby Coleman) are sent to spend the summer with their dad (Greg Kinnear) in his beach house.  While Danny looked forward to the quality time with his dad, Ronnie had trouble with her parents separation and dreaded having to face it.  After a little spilled milkshake incident on the beach, she meets Will, a beach volleyball player/mechanic worker/volunteer at the local aquarium. As they bond over protecting the sea turtle eggs by the beach house, they begin to see they both can open each other’s hearts and this allows Ronnie to see the music and passion for piano that she’s hidden in her for so long.  With the growing passion, her connection with her dad also starts to build again.

At the point in time, I’ve learned that if you are to sit through a Nicholas Sparks books, you have to be ready for the cheesy lines.  I’m actually okay with that because I’m a pretty cheesy person to start with.  I am a cheesy romantic, I’ve admitted that.  Thats probably why I can find enjoyment, even in the slightest for each of these movies so far.  I liked the book so obviously, the story here wasn’t going to be my problem.  And it wasn’t.  With the last year or so getting into knowing about movies and exploring that world so much more, I’ve grown to know a lot more actors and their works.  One of those is definitely Greg Kinnear.  I haven’t seen him play big roles but in the previous stuff I’ve seen him in, he is always entertaining to watch and in this one, I actually found that he was possibly the best one of the whole crew.  The rest of the cast is due to young green actors.

With that said, first up, lets take a look at Liam Hemsworth.  I have to say that the Hemsworth brother has been blessed with some very fantastic genes because although I do believe Chris  Hemsworth is just awesome manly, Liam Hemsworth does have a boyish charm.  Of course, I’m talking about this role and not say, his more manly charms in The Hunger Games.  Still, as one of the earlier roles that he did, I liked it a lot.  He definitely added to my enjoyment of The Last Song.

But we all know that as much as he was the love interest, the back story here is something of a soul searching experience for our dear Miley Cyrus’s character, Ronnie.  Let me confess that I have not seen any Miley Cyrus.  I never got on board with the Hannah Montana thing.  I even had to search to make sure it was actually that that she was playing.  Either way, I don’t really think Miley Cyrus was ever meant to act because she really didn’t do it for me.  Which comes to the point that her acting almost brings down the whole movie.  Plus, she wasn’t really how I pictured Ronnie as I was reading it.  Thats the problem with doing book adaptations, right?

As much as I didn’t like Miley Cyrus, the movie has some really nice back music.  The actual “last song” was pretty awesome that I’m planning on finding the sheet music for it.  I included the song up there in case you wanted to hear it.  I play the piano so I’m a sucker for piano music in movies.  Also, as always I enjoyed the side story with Ronnie’s dad in the picture with family and loss.  The story is a basic troubled teenager soul searching experience and finding the courage to follow your passions and doing what your heart wants and doing things for yourself.  It has a nice message 🙂

I hate to be sounding like I’m hating on the movies every single time (in regards to Nicholas Sparks adaptations) but seriously since I had really low expectations, this one turned out a lot better than I had expected.  Greg Kinnear, the little brother (played by Bobby Coleman) and Liam Hemsworth all do a great job to keep this alive and because of the novel, they do have some nice dialogue and quotes here and there but if you do intend to watch this, just remember that I warned you about Miley Cyrus.  I could picture so many other girls that could’ve excelled in that role instead of her but well, whats done is done…

Have you seen The Last Song? Any thoughts? What do you think of Greg Kinnear/Liam Hemsworth?

And today is the double review day 😉 The next Nicholas Sparks adaptation coming up in the afternoon…be sure to come back to check it out!