- Robert Pattinson broods for Emilie de Ravin in Remember Me.
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by John Thomason
Brooding angst has rarely felt as contrived as it does in Remember Me, the latest outlet for Twilight star and disheveled rebel without a cause Robert Pattinson. His face a perpetual sulk, his preferred enunciation a world-weary mumble, Pattinson’s Tyler Hawkins has perfectly valid reasons to be sad: He’s never gotten past his older brother’s suicide eight years prior, he comes from a broken home and his father (Pierce Brosnan, in a menial stock role) is a neglectful prick in a three-piece suit. He finds a partner to mope with in Ally Craig (Emilie de Ravin), who shares her own history of devastating trauma and lives with her overprotective police detective father (Chris Cooper, in a menial stock role).
Will Fetters’ debut screenplay is deaf to the authentic rhythms, cadences and diction of young people, and nothing surprises in this diagrammatic, “social problem” melodrama of love and loss, parents and children, coping and moving on. That is, until the out-of-left-field ending, which crassly exploits a certain American tragedy for cheap dramatic utility, forging a cosmic bond between its low-rent Capulet-and-Montague lovers.
A miserable parable bookended by random tragedy, Remember Me is an effective emotional experience in spurts, particularly when dealing with the relationship between Brosnan’s ultrarich patriarch and his youngest daughter, an aspiring artist. But the climax is unforgivable.
Remember Me will open Friday, March 12.
