REMEMBER ME

REMEMBER ME is an emotionally overwhelming, piercing, eloquent, and vivid drama with a striking, heartbreaking ending that viewers will remember. Regrettably, the movie has a sexual romance between the two lead, 21-year-old characters, who are not married, as well as plenty of foul language, some of it strong. There are also three scenes of sudden, disturbing violence.

The story opens in 1991, with a mother and her 11-year-old daughter in New York City waiting at night for the subway to take them home. Two young thieves come up to them, and take their purses, but one of the thugs decides to shoot the mother when she looks at his face. After this brutal crime, the girl’s father, a police detective, takes his little daughter home in his arms.

Cut to 10 years later in the summer of 2001. Robert Pattinson of the TWILIGHT movies is a troubled student at NYU, who’s wrestling with his beliefs and his future, and has a strained relationship with his workaholic father, a big corporate lawyer played by Pierce Brosnan. The two grew apart when Tyler’s older brother killed himself, and now the father seems to have little interest either in Tyler or his cute, talented young sister.

One night while bar hopping, Tyler and his college roommate get into a fight with some thugs in a car who are beating up a pedestrian. Tyler gets angry at the detective who arrives on the scene, because the detective is not interested in arresting the thugs from the car. The detective, who just happens to be the detective from the first scene, arrests Tyler too.

Sometime later, Tyler’s roommate finds out that the detective’s pretty daughter, Ally (Emilie de Ravin), who saw her mother shot to death 10 years ago, also goes to NYU. He goads Tyler into picking Ally up and getting back at the father by eventually sleeping with her.

Tyler starts dating Ally. A couple dates later or so, Tyler and his roommate take Ally to a party in their apartment building. The roommate gets Ally drunk, but she gets sick and passes out in their apartment.

The next morning, Ally arrives home. Her father is very angry with her. He tried to find out where she was, but her cell phone was dead he called and also when Tyler tried to call him after she had passed out.

The situation between Ally and her father doesn’t go well, and he angrily slaps her. Immediately, Ally gathers her things and goes over to Tyler’s place to stay. There, Tyler gets involved with Ally, whom he now is beginning to fall for in a heavy way. Of course, Ally comes to love Tyler’s family, including his mother, who’s divorced from Tyler’s father, and especially Tyler’s cute, lovable young sister. Tyler never seems to find the chance, however, to tell her why he started talking to her in the first, including the fact that her father had arrested him.

All this sets the stage for the movie’s powerful third act that includes some positive resolutions cut short by a startling and tragic, but provocative and ultimately profound, ending.

REMEMBER ME is more like a drama that’s a stormy character study rather than a drama with a driving storyline. The story is still very compelling and almost all the acting is exceptional. Though the characters are troubled, with underlying psychological problems and issues, they and their relationships are still captivating and ultimately appealing. It is very clear that Tyler cares very much for his little sister, who is a real darling. And, it is clear that Ally and her father, despite their problems, also care a lot for one another. The script develops these positive aspects through some humor and wit. This helps keep the drama from becoming too ponderous, even considering its heartbreaking ending.

Despite the movie’s sexual content (which includes a briefly depicted sex scene that cuts away before becoming too explicit) and its strong foul language, what really stays in the mind are its more positive, clean, provocative, and entertaining elements. And, though the ending is very tragic, it’s also very profound and heartfelt.

In addition to the sexual references and the foul language, one of the movie’s main themes or messages is the idea that people must cherish the moments they share with one another and even live in the moment. Especially because one never knows what the future will bring. This message is slightly Romantic, in the philosophical sense, but it also has its moral, biblical aspects. Thus, the movie eventually does teach viewers, in a profound way, to appreciate their friends and family members, and treat them kindly each time they see them. It also shows that revenge is bad, and that compassion toward strangers as well as family and friends is essential to living a meaningful life.

Even so, MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong caution for REMEMBER ME, including adult viewers. Pre-marital sex, even between two adults over 21, is wrong. Therefore, in spite of any positive things one may derive from REMEMBER ME, it would have been an even more effective movie without the objectionable content.

Please see the CONTENT section above for more details before finalizing any decision whether to see this movie, and especially whether to send your older children, including your teenagers over 17 and those of young adult age.