A Walk to Remember 2002

Critics score:
27 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Jonathan Perry, Boston Globe: In their zeal to create a character who embodies a wholesome, positive adolescent ideal, the filmmakers have invented an 18-year-old girl with no self-doubt, no emotional weakness, no character flaws, and a crystal-clear complexion. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: Just when you think that everything has been neatly resolved, the movie drops a bomb that is jaw-droppingly cheap. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Plays like the old disease-of-the-week small-screen melodramas. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: It drowns in sap. Read more

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune: It's sad that Moore's first major cinematic outing scrapes the bottom of the melodramatic barrel. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Proves that a movie about goodness is not the same thing as a good movie. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Rarely has leukemia looked so shimmering and benign. Read more

Pam Sitt, Seattle Times: A saccharine, but fresh and PG-rated alternative to, well, Not Just Another Teen Movie. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: It's an overwrought teen weepy, Terms of Endearment for the TRL crowd. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Could have been crisper and punchier, but it's likely to please audiences who like movies that demand four hankies. Read more

Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader: This realist fairy tale of impossible love has a fair amount of nuance and charm. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Just because A Walk to Remember is shrewd enough to activate girlish tear ducts doesn't mean it's good enough for our girls. Read more

Kevin Courrier, Globe and Mail: The kind of inspirational story that has the opposite effect. It puts you in a stupor. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The target audience may enjoy the film, but there's little hope than anyone other than 11-15-year old girls will be willing to endure Shankman's curdled concoction. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A love story so sweet, sincere and positive that it sneaks past the defenses built up in this age of irony. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Shankman ... and screenwriter Karen Janszen bungle their way through the narrative as if it were a series of Bible parables and not an actual story. Read more

Octavio Roca, San Francisco Chronicle: A story about intelligent high school students that deals with first love sweetly but also seriously. It is also beautifully acted. Read more

Time Out: An adolescent romance we've seen a million times before. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Goo oozes without mercy. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: As far as I'm concerned, very little of what happens in this glossy teen-weepie romance can be described as surprising, and even less of it feels fresh or spontaneous. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: If you can't see everything in this film coming from a mile away, then you really need to get out more. Read more