If I Stay: Just another tween pic

September 06, 2014 06:34 pm | Updated 06:34 pm IST

Chloë Grace Moretz in 'If i stay'

Chloë Grace Moretz in 'If i stay'

“It was too cheesy,” observed the girl just behind me in the queue of moviegoers shuffling out of the Chloë Grace Moretz young-adult weepie If I Stay . I turned to agree with her, only to realise she was actually talking — with no hint of irony — about her popcorn. Cross my heart — in the tweenie spirit of the film — I am not making this up.

The conversation behind me moved on to an impassioned discussion of teen love. Obviously a supernatural “sign” — again in the spirit of the film, as you will discover if you read further — that I wasn't its target demographic. If I Stay , directed by documentary filmmaker R.J. Cutler, is based on the highly popular young adult novel by Gayle Foreman. Lovely Mia Hall (Chloë Grace Moretz), a somewhat shy teen, lives in Portland with her rock-n-roller turned respectable parents, papa Denny (Joshua Leonard) and mama Kat (Mireille Enos), and baby brother Teddy (Jakob Davies). 

It's a perfect family, and Mia’s rebellion takes the form of playing classical cello rather than punk rock.  Opposites being fated to attract — this being a teen love story and all — Mia catches the eye of high-school stud Adam (Jamie Blackley), who has his very own rock band called Willamette Stone.

They start going out, fall in love, and plan a future together. However, true love is threatened by conflicting post-school ambitions. Adam gets ever more successful, but still plans a future in their little town while Mia dreams of leaving Portland and being accepted at Juilliard to pursue her music.

Mia pines in equal and contradictory parts for Adam and admission into Juilliard. Then fate gives Mia something real to moan about, a horrific car accident that leaves her comatose. Meanwhile, and this is the supernatural bit, Mia's soul/consciousness/spirit runs madly around the hospital eavesdropping.

Incidentally, you also know that you don't fit the demographic if you are concerned that, disembodied or otherwise, Mia is not dressed warmly enough for the weather; or if issues about underage drinking, teen sex or the viability of a rock star as a stable life partner even vaguely cross your mind.

Does this out-of-body Mia want to return to her body given the tragic circumstances? That’s the "if I stay" dilemma posed by the title.

Just in case we still don’t get it, however, Nurse Ramirez (Aisha Hinds) who is attending to the comatose teen tells Mia that it lies entirely in her own hands: whether she wants to bid adieu to the world, or come back into it and live her life.

Final note on the target demographic: if you are one of those crabby souls who think teenagers are melodramatic and teenagers in love even more so, this film is definitely not for you.

On the other hand, if you crave more melodrama after the end titles, there’s apparently a literary sequel titled — wait for this — Where She Went . Cross my heart, not making this up either.

If I Stay

Genre: Young adult romance

Director: R. J. Cutler

Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Mireille Enos, Joshua Leonard, Jamie Blackley

Storyline: A comatose young girl must decide whether she wants to fight for her life or not

Bottomline: Weepie teen love story strictly aimed at tweens

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