[CRITICAL] PATHS CROSS – Penelopethemovie

Anear brilliant study, the future of Sophia seems to be mapped out, until she meets Luke at a competition rodeo. It had nothing to do there, they have nothing in common, but life sometimes surprises… Ira Levinson, a 90-year-old knows what life may hold in store for the unexpected. Eight years earlier, he lost his wife and went to the place where he had offered him the first painting of what would become the collection to which they have devoted their lives. But Will loses control of his car and does the life that Luke and Sophia, that the draw of the flames. He begs them to save a box full of letters… When Sophia visits the old man to the hospital, she offers him read this correspondence for the comfort. In the course of reading, the young girl discovers the life of the Ira, and the many similarities between her story and that she is now living with Luke. Beyond time, they share the issues, events, but above all, the hope for a life of happiness…

This long and boring synopsis of PATHS CROSSED, an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Nicholas Sparks, pretty much sums up our feeling in front of this movie well over two hours. It is already quite surprising to find at the realization George Tilman Jr, revealed in 2000, with the Paths of dignity, which told the story of the first African-American to have joined the Navy. An african-american community who had also been the subject of his first film, Soul food (1997). The director had subsequently shown his taste for music with Notorious B. I. G (2009), a biopic about the rapper of the same name who died on 9 march 1997, and had attacked the film action with “Faster (2010). Movies worn by a certain violence and a harshness of life that are flaws to his new achievement. By engaging in the romance with PATHS CROSSED, Tilman offers a work surface. Even if the genre rarely shows great originality in its denouement, the interest often comes its share of drama, as with never forget (2004), directed by Nick Cassavetes and become a reference in the genre. By not offering any semblance of tragedy, PATHS CROSSED adds nothing, and immerses us in a bored deep.

They are beautiful Sophia and Luke ! Too beautiful even. If Britt Robertson we had caught the eye in the pursuit of tomorrow due to its natural and its capital sympathy, alongside Scott Eastwood, the athlete, the young actress falls into the caricature. Together, the two performers make up the perfect all-american couple, good in all respects. They are blond, beautiful and seem to come straight out of an advertising poster. To him, represents the male dominant, who rides bulls and lives in the family ranch helping his mother. The perfect man that wish, apparently, all the girls of the sisterhood of Sophia. It is student art, his passion. Although these two worlds are opposites, they still represent a time no default. It is the problem of PATHS CROSSED. Its lack of drama. We would have liked to see the confrontation of the cowboy in the face of a world that is more “modern” and “urban,” there will be nothing. At each occurrence of any of the difficulties, happens an immediate solution allowing the couple to continue with his love. The issue of the departure in New York in two months set by Sophia, or the danger that is liable to Luke after his injury of rodeo, will provide the final little thrill. In front of this story of the most bland and the achievement is not free from reproach. With the exception of the few sequences rodeo rather effective, Tilman offers an artificial image too smooth and polished, accompanied, unsurprisingly, songs from pop, to country, to in the end constantly falling in the clichés and the kitsch.

“The film fails to intrigue or even we titillate them a little bit. A film flat and bland.”

We will pass on the plans of the grotesque core of Luke or on the excitement of Sophia caused by each the semblance of a caress. Because where the movie is leaden truly, it is in the choice to submit not one, but two romances. The second from the story ofIra (Alan Alda). The latter, after his accident, will be entitled to several visits Sophia in the hospital (we had said that it was perfect) and told her his past with his great love. A party that presents more interest. There are twists and a semblance of depth in the characters of the protagonists. The whole, together with a plot rather tragic. But in entrecoupant this story by the romance of Sophia and Luke (at least that it is not the reverse), you get tired quickly and the film becomes very long. PATHS CROSSED fails to intrigue or even we titillate a little. A film flat and bland.