Remember Me
Review by Mary Romanov

No matter how high it aims, this is a teen romantic drama at heart, plodding, as it does, through several months in the lives of two NYU students. Both are burdened with difficult families: Tyler, played by Robert Pattinson, is dealing with the fact that his parents are divorced, his Dad is mean (although very rich and thus useful) and his brother has committed suicide, while Ally (Emilie de Ravin, Brick, TV’s Lost) witnessed her mother’s murder as a child, and also has a mean Dad. A series of unlikely events results in the star-crossed lovers’ paths converging—and they have just enough contrived character quirks to satisfy each other until fate intervenes. (There’s an incredibly tasteless throwback to 9/11 that’s integral to the story, so watch out for that.) The film is directed in a similar (although less stylish) fashion to Donnie Darko, with its circular narrative and overall message—and its tormented characters are lifted in a roundabout way from the works of J.D. Salinger. Although lacking in class and originality, Remember Me is bound to engage Twilight fans (if few others) as Pattinson appears to be playing the exact same character here—coiffed hair, anguished looks and all—and, moreover, is involved in several risqué love scenes.