The Plot

When a young couple save an old widower from a fatal car crash, their relationship becomes intertwined with flashbacks of his own past as he reflects on his past love.

The Good

Fresh from riding bathtubs with George Clooney in Tomorrowland, Britt Robertson switches Clooney for Scott Eastwood  in the latest big screen adaptation based on the seemingly endless supply of Nicholas Sparks novels.

The Longest Ride has everything Nicholas Sparks fans know and love. From the intertwining storylines that juxtapose relationships from two different time periods, to the generic poster of the two leads looking longingly into each others eyes while casually advertising an idyllic American country life.

As Robertson’s Sophia, an art student, reads countless love letters back to Ira (Alan Alda) while he recuperates from his car crash, it will come as no great surprise that Ira’s relationship with his recently deceased artist wife Ruth, bears some striking similarities to her own relationship with her bull rider boyfriend, Luke (Eastwood).

Of the two interconnecting stories Ira and Ruth’s is slightly more interesting than Sophia and Luke’s. The chemistry between young Ira and young Ruth – played respectively by Jack Huston and Oona Chaplin – feels a bit more fleshed out, with the fact that their story follows them through to old age probably being the main reason for this.

The Bad

Sophia and Luke’s story is much less believable and at times, annoying. After their very first date, Sophia decides to almost preemptively end the chance of a relationship as she prepares to move to New York for an internship, a move that would undoubtedly cause some strains in a new relationship. But this being a Nick Sparks film, the spark is there from the very beginning (if you’ll pardon the pun) and of course we couldn’t have the relationship end so early and sensibly.

Then there’s the ‘opposites attract’ side to the relationship, which can be found in both Ira and Ruth and Sophia and Luke’s storyline, with the girl being the artsy type but the guy not being able to understand art at all. However in Sophia and Luke’s story, the difference between the two is amped up slightly by Luke’s career as a professional bull rider. In a Rocky Balboa move, Luke carelessly continues a career which is slowly but surely increasing the chance of his death. While he certainly has a motive to continue the career his father had, for most of the film it’s not motive enough.

The Ugly Truth

The Longest Ride is instantly recognizable as a Nick Sparks romance and has everything fans of his expect and enjoy from surely one of the most prolific names in the romance genre today. Though it has some issues with half of it’s main storyline, there’s still enough in there to keep you entertained.