Let's just talk about the elephant in the room: Scott Eastwood. He was born Scott Clinton Reeves to Clint Eastwood and flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves. Jacelyn raised Scott, but he got the itch for acting. He started out as an Abercrombie & Fitch model then moved into acting. There was already a Scott Reeves & a Scott Clifton registered with SAG. To avoid confusion he HAD to use Scott Eastwood. Now his name has not boosted his career by any means; he's worked very hard for his career. This will be the movie that gets his own name out there. Not that he does a stellar job or that it'll be a box office hit, but he's charming.
Luke Collins (Scott) is a bullrider from North Carolina who happens to meet straight-laced, artsy Sophia (Britt Robertson) from Connecticut by chance. The story of opposites attract gets more complicated when on their first date they rescue Ira Levinson (Alan Alda) from a car crash. During his haze Ira tells Sophia to save the box - a wicker picnic basket in his passenger seat. So begins the "Tale of Two Love Stories" as I call it. One set in present day between Luke & Sophia; the other set in the letters inside the wicker picnic basket between Ira & Ruth. Ira was a Jewish American who ran his father dress shop; while Ruth was an Austrian straight from Vienna who loved art. Despite their differences they loved each other, but after a war injury dashes both Ira's & Ruth's dreams can they survive being a couple? Meanwhile Luke & Sophia must face the possibility that if Luke keeps bullriding he could die, but he tries to convince her and himself and anyone that'll listen he's doing it for the money to keep his mother's farm; can they survive Luke's obsession & her career that'll take her to NYC?
I loved the complexity of the stories, but a few things were distracting. One I'm SO MAD we only saw Scott Eastwood's bum once. Two I am familiar with Britt Robertson from "Secret Circle" (which I hated but loved her) and am SO GLAD she's in a lead role. This girl is about to BLOW UP (she's going to be in a new movie called "Tomorrowland" with the one and only George Clooney). This girl can smile, cry, and laugh at the drop of a hat; insanely talented. Three I saw a smattering of black extras which debunks the notion Nicholas Sparks movies don't have Black folk in them, but I did say to myself "Black folk don't go to bullriding shows...do we?" Then I laughed at myself. BUT the biggest annoyance of this movie. When Sophia & Luke are talking in a bar the camera pans out to show both of them EVERY TWO SECONDS someone walks in front of the camera. I thought people were walking in front of the screen at the movies how much it occurred. I get the director wanted to show it was busy, but OH MY LANTA that was so annoying. I could not WAIT till that scene was over. I dunno if this is par for the course in every bar scene in movies, but this one was so noticeable and annoying. Editors didn't catch that? Closeups were fine, but when they panned out it was more irritating than the fact that Scott Eastwood, playing a cowboy by birth, had zero southern accent. He talked more articulate than Sophia who was a college student from "The North."
My favorite scene was him dressed in his cowboy boots & hat, tight jeans, and plaid shirt walking through the college campus on their first date to pick Sophia up. The only thing that kept going through my head was Jidenna's "Classic Man" (fans self). I must say one thing I hate is when the scene FORCES it. So when he picks Sophia up at her sorority (which he says "I didn't know you live in a sorority house" even though the very night they met Melissa Benoit introduced herself as Marcia, Sophia's sorority sister), all the girls react how the audience does...times eighty. Audibly swooning and "I want to date a cowboy." Subtle. I wish they reworked that scene and made it more subtle. It's like when people in movies say "Oh she's hot" and the actress is then seen as hot there after cuz of the movie. I dunno it kinda irked me.
Another plus is Jack Huston. Nephew of THE GREAT Anjelica & Danny Huston, Jack is so commanding onscreen as young Ira you want to see him just stay on the screen. He's a different kind of sexy than Scott Eastwood. It's this intensity that the camera loves. I predict in his lifetime he will win an Oscar. WOW is all I can say about his talent.
One more character in the movie is the art. Sophia & Ruth both love art, and when you see these paintings you will fall in love with them...then try to discover more about art. It's what I did! Now I wanna know more.
All in all I enjoyed the movie. One of my favorite of Nicholas Sparks actually. Felt like "The Notebook" meets "The Way We Were." Recommending it :D