If I Stay Review: A Cynic's Perspective

By Erendira Franco on August 25, 2014

Courtesy of ComingSoon.net

Chances are, if you’ve seen or want to see If I Stay, you’ve read the novel. It’s difficult to judge a movie based on a book you’ve read; you spend the entire time trying match up every scene, picking out what’s right and wrong. It’s even more difficult to watch a romance, knowing every “cutesy-couple” moment will make you cringe.

Sure, a lot of us want a relationship like Noah and Allie, Augustus and Hazel or in this case, Adam and Mia. Honestly though, deep down, most of us are also aware that these stories are fiction for a reason. They give you those warm-fuzzy “feelings,” but that’s probably all they’re good for.

Fortunately, If I Stay stands a chance in the eyes of cynics since, rather than just following the relationship of one couple, we also get to examine an interesting family dynamic.

So, without giving too much away, here’s the quick and dirty of the film. Good-girl-cellist Mia belongs to a family of rockers. While her parents relish the work of the Ramones, Mia’s a Yo Yo Ma girl. While out for a drive, the family gets in a wreck and Mia experiences an out of body experience. During this experience, we see flashbacks of Mia’s life: her relationship with local rockstar Adam, her love for the cello, her family and best friend. In between these flashbacks, we see Mia rushing around, hoping to get information on her family.

The Good: The flashbacks were interwoven with scenes of her family, and scenes of her romance with Adam. This definitely helped to tone down the “cutesy-couple” cringe-factor. Blending the flashbacks this way also helped establish the unique family dynamic that made them so close-knit. Overall, there was plenty of love displayed among friends and family, the unifying factor being music.

Music also gave this movie an edge. There was a clear contrast between Mia’s classical affinity, and her family’s and Adam’s rock preference. This difference in musical tastes didn’t segregate though. While it personified everyone’s personalities, it showed how strong these bonds were, something that’s essential to understand the choices Mia must make throughout the film.

The Bad: Here’s where cynicism rears its head. While the romantic aspect of the film wasn’t too over the top, it definitely felt a little rushed, especially for high school students, though a few scenes in the film did try to justify this young-love concept. Granted, translating a book-romance into a movie-romance can be difficult. All of those little details that are in the book are missed in the film and everything seems to happen too fast. Like, whoa, they’ve been dating for a month and they’ve already exchanged “I love you’s?” It’s hard to watch these cheesy, romantic scenes because they seem so forced, like the guy’s only saying what the girl wants to here. A more descriptive inner-monologue would have provided some insight to these moments.

Overall: If I Stay is pretty decent. While it’s not a happy, light summer movie, it’s still enjoyable, and if you’ve read the book, it’ll be exciting seeing how your favorite scenes are portrayed.

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