Endless Love [Blu-Ray]

Shana Feste

BY Allan TongPublished May 23, 2014

3
Endless Love is supposed to be a tragic love story about beautiful rich girl Jade (Gabriella Wilde of The Three Musketeers) and hunky working class boy David (Alex Pettyfer of Magic Mike). Despite coming from the opposite sides of their southern town and the objections of Jade's upper-crust parents, they fall for each other. Problem is, this film is a syrupy exercise in blandness that is never quite believable. Jade and David are too sweet; they lack dimension and mystique. They look "perfect," in that white, all-American kind of way, and they fall for each other too easily, without the apprehension or confusion that comes at the beginning of a relationship.

The film goes further downhill when Jade's daddy, played by the reliably good Bruce Greenwood, objects to David. Without spoiling the film, let's just say that the turning points in the story are too ludicrous to believe, and the drama is strictly melodramatic. This remake pales next to the grittier 1981 film starring Brooke Shields, which had its own flaws, but at least treated the underlying theme of class conflict in America with some gravity.

The bonus features in this combo pack are light: there's no audio commentary, 30 minutes of outtakes and alternate takes that are mildly interesting, and a ho-hum extended ending. An 18-minute making-of featurette is a predictable mash of talking heads from the key creators and stars backslapping each other and recalling their own first loves. Again, light. Endless Love has "Hollywood product" written all over it.

(Universal)

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