Director: George Tillman Jr.
Cast: Britt Robertson, Scott Eastwood, Alan Alda, Jack Huston, Oona Chaplin, Melissa Benoist, Lolita Davidovich
Rating: C
Here we go again. Another Nicholas Sparks novel is coming to life on the big screen to entice fans of past films like The Notebook, Dear John, and Safe Haven (just to name a few) back into the theaters for a big dose of romance to warm the hearts of those seeking a good sappy love story to make them sigh and think “aww – now that was nice.”
Luke (Scott Eastwood) is a champion bull rider returning to the rodeo after a fall from a mean and extra nasty bull nearly ends his career. Determined to attend the big league competition in Las Vegas, Luke is risking his life in the arena to prove that he still has what it takes to be the number one bull rider in the country. He gets distracted by Sophia (Britt Robertson), a college student about to graduate and head off to her dream job in Manhattan. After a full blown attempt at pursuing Sophia, she finally agrees to go out with Luke. She kindly explains to him that the timing to get involved with someone is off because she is about to leave North Carolina to pursue an amazing job opportunity in the art world. Discouraged, Luke abruptly ends the date, piles up his picnic supplies, along with his love interest and decides to take her home before he loses his heart.
On the drive back to the girl’s college dorm on that rainy night, Luke and Sophia notice that a guard rail on the side of the road is torn apart and discover a car on fire with elderly Ira (Alan Alda) inside. Luke is charged with rescuing Ira while Ira desperately requests Sophia to save a box in the front seat of his car. Sophia rushes into the burning car to retrieve the injured man’s box. While in the hospital waiting room, curiosity gets the best of Sophia and she opens one of the letters and discovers that Ira has saved everything that he wrote to his beloved wife of 60 years.
To give comfort to her adorable senior citizen, Sophia agrees to come to the hospital daily and read Ira the letters he wrote to his wife. Now we have flash backs to 1940s of a young Ira (Jack Huston) and the life he shared with Ruth (Oona Chaplin). Ruth, a beautiful Jewish immigrant from Austria that desires a large family one day, settles down in North Carolina just before World War II. For Ira it is love at first sight and Ruth instinctively knows that Ira will be the man with whom she builds a new life. Sadly, the couple’s dreams are shattered when Ira returns from World War II with an injury that prevents him from having children. The young Jewish couple still moves forward and find happiness in their new home. Ira fulfills every wish for Ruth especially satisfying her love for art. Over time Ira and Ruth amass the most amazing art collection all in the name of love. Ruth, who becomes a school teacher, finds herself becoming very dissatisfied with life because her need to have children is never met. When she becomes obsessed with the idea of adopting an impoverished boy from her school, Ruth becomes even more discontent when the attempts to adopt the child fail. Ira and Ruth are face with the emotional battle of how to be truly happy with just each other.
Meanwhile in present day, we see the struggles between Luke and Sophia trying to make a relationship work when two people are from very different worlds. His desire to continue bull riding and her desire to pursue an art career are pulling Luke and Sophia apart. Will the life lessons they are learning from wise old Ira be enough to keep them together?
The main cast of The Longest Ride is made up of four relatively unknown actors. Robertson’s performance often feels forced and contrived. She is not completely convincing as an ambitious strong willed young woman on the cusp of greatness because she is a brilliant art student. The handsome blue-eyed Eastwood looks comfortable in his wrangler jeans and plaid shirts, but it is hard to tell if he has any real acting ability in this film. The dialogue Eastwood is given is rather limited so he is not able to show any depth for his character. A thumbs up can be given for performances from Huston and Chaplin. The chemistry between the two is amazing as they exchange steamy glances back and forth and tormented expressions when things seem to be falling apart. Huston is the silent strong stoic hero that will do anything for the love of his life. Chaplin, with her unusual looks, is quite appealing as the spirited head strong young women just a bit ahead of her times. The scale is tipped in Huston and Chaplin’s favor for being very convincing. The opposite is true of Robertson and Eastwood making the movie feel very uneven.
Two stories are going on simultaneously in this film and the romantic tales that should have glided and melded together windup colliding like two thunder clouds. The story of Ira and Ruth’s trials and tribulations is far more interesting than love birds Luke and Sophia’s arguing back and forth. The conflicts Luke and Sophia face come across as unimportant and frivolous when options are available these days for people to pursue all sorts of careers and still have their dream partners with them. If only Luke and Sophia’s love affair was as strong as Ira and Ruth’s then the film could have told a really great story of love – old and new. There is nothing in common with the two tales other than the fact that the two female leads have a love for art. This movie would have been so much more interesting if the focus had been on Ira and Ruth. Another point making the film feel out of balance is that anti-Semitism was flourishing in the deep south of the 1940s so something about two Jewish lovers roaming around freely in a picture perfect North Carolina village just did not seem very real.
There are plenty of heartwarming moments in The Longest Ride. But, for the most part this film is very corny, mushy, and contrived. There is a twist and very farfetched ending that will leave many reeling and probably chuckling at how unbelievable the storyline gets just to wrap things up nice and tidy. With its campy dialogue and clashing affairs of the heart, audiences in the mood for romance this spring may just find this film to be a long unending ride at the theater.
