I admit that I have a curiousity about Robert Pattinson. He is certainly eye-candy of a fine quality, first appearing on the 'hello-omiter' when playing Cedric Diggery in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but I've yet to be convinced that he has anything much above so-so acting talent.
Fortunately for him, his looks mean I'll keep giving him another chance to win me over and so with my shallow gene strongly pulsating I went to see Remember Me.
Firstly any film that starts with a (mis)quote from Gandhi is on dangerous ground:
Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it
It is setting out its stall as a story that is going to be in someway profound but Hollywood movies rarely are. This is essentially a tale of troubled youth meets girl who saves him from self-distruction but with a slight twist at the end that some might interpret as tragic.
OK so rewind slightly. Pattinson is Tyler who is coming to terms with the death of a much-loved older brother and has a rapidly crumbling relationship with his successful-lawyer father. Emilie de Ravine is Ally who's mother was shot dead in front of her by muggers when she was a child and lives with her over-protective, cop father.
Pattinson is all tousled and angsty as Tyler who is prone to attention seeking acts such as getting arrested for back-chatting cops after intervening in a street brawl (remember Ally's cop dad?) and Ally is alarmingly normal and well-adjusted considering her traumatic history.
Their blossoming relationship naturally proves good for Tyler and despite a slight glitch when Ally finds out that his initially asking her out was a bet with his annoying room-mate and goes off in a huff only to be reconciled 10 mins later when a crisis hits Tylers family (his little sister is bullied at school), things are definitely looking up. Even cold, business-first, family-second lawyer-Daddy starts behaving better and is revealed to have feelings after all.
Is that someone going 'yadda, yadda, yadda' I hear or is that in my own head?
But no, remember this film starts with a Gandhi quote therefore it won't be schmultzy, it will be profound. So they kill Tyler off. But not only do they kill him off, he dies in one of the Twin Towers on September 11 where he is waiting in his father's office - his father having been delayed because he's decided to be a Dad again and take the formerly bullied younger sister to school.
I'm surprised they stopped short of having the shadow of the approaching plane across the window in which Tyler was standing and some sort of realisation but accepting look on his face.
Maybe a teen viewer will find something profound in all that. I just thought it was funny. There are some nice moments in the film but putting the contrived, cheesy story to one side, did Robert Pattinson blow me away with his new found acting talent? Er...well...he looked absolutely gorgeous. And that is probably that only reason this film will make any money or at least should make any money.
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