A Walk to Remember

Can a small town's handsome, generically troubled high school bad boy be reformed by the soft-focus love of a plain, virginal minister's daughter? Will finding out that the girl is dying from leukemia (despite showing no symptoms whatsoever) change the way he feels about her? Will he be inspired to reach for his dreams because of her? Will over-scripted, highly telegraphed, mushy and grand romantic gestures follow? If you can answer these questions without being spoon-fed 102 minutes of cheaply cloying flavorless syrup, then you'll save yourself from having to watch this trite, two-hanky teen romance that launches soggy spitballs of sentimentality in nearly every scene. The surprising breadth and veracity of pop princess Mandy Moore's performance as the terminal outcast, who attracts in-crowd malcontent Landon (the blasé and insincere Shane West) in spite of her mousy brown hair and burlap sack wardrobe, is the movie's lone merit. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries--one from screenwriter Karen Janszen and novelist Nicholas Sparks; the other, overlapping banter from Shane West, Mandy Moore and director Adam Shankman (which includes revelations about sets and props previously used in Dawson's Creek and I Know What You Did Last Summer)--and the music video "Cry," by a considerably glammed up Moore. Bottom line: A decent extras package for a film that doesn't merit any additional attention.] (R. Blackwelder)