It might have been better if Endless Love, an adaptation of the 1979 novel by Scott Spencer, stayed as a book.
In Endless Love, Gabriella Wilde plays a shy, innocent girl named Jade Butterfield with plans to take an internship during the summer after graduation and eventually become a cardiologist like her father. However, the viewer knows these plans won’t last.
David (Alex Pettyfer) has plans to work as a car mechanic with his father instead of going to college. He admits he’s wanted to kiss Jade Butterfield since the tenth grade.
It’s sickeningly predictable as the high school graduates fall head over heels for each other the minute they gaze into each other’s eyes. Jade drops her yearbook, David bends down to retrieve it, both look up, and it’s love.
When Jade and David emerge from a closet during Jade’s graduation party as her father is making a toast, hostile feelings immediately develop between David and Jade’s father (to no one’s surprise). As expected, Jade eventually refuses her internship to spend more time with David.
The enemies in Endless Love are quite obvious: David’s ex-girlfriend and Jade’s overprotective father who do everything in their power to separate the inseparable Jade and David.
Despite her father’s negative influence, everything is impossibly perfect as Jade spends the summer with David until she discovers his shaky past.
Her heart aches when she finds that they are forbidden to see each other as Jade’s father imposes a restraining order on David. However, David’s calm and loving personality convinces you of his goodness and it is apparent that these obstacles are no match for true love.
Unfortunately, as the movie progresses moral and character complexity fail to develop.
It seemed the characters in the movie were portrayed through a black and white lens. A character was either absolutely loved or hated with a passion – there was no in-between. Besides David’s ex-girlfriend and Jade’s father, David’s comedic best friend and the rest Jade’s family embrace their relationship.
The movie left me with absolutely nothing but the cliché message of “Love will overpower” that was also present in every Disney movie I ever believed as a child.
Looking back, I realized many side issues were never addressed. What happened to Jade’s father cheating on his wife? The precious memorabilia of Chris, Jade’s brother, that was destroyed when the house was lit on fire? When the screen went black I was left confused and unsatisfied.
Needless to say, it’s easy to go along with a perfect love story of two attractive teenagers who look so right for each other. However, Endless Love proved to be beautiful fluff with no substance.
Endless Love is rated PG-13 and is 145 minutes long.
