Marguerite Darcy on The Longest Ride

The Longest Ride is a love story adapted from the book of the same name by Nicholas Sparks (the author of The Notebook), so you should get a feel for how the story unfolds.

The plot is pretty straightforward: two young and beautiful people, Sophia and Luke (Britt Robertson and Scott Eastwood -- yes this is Clint Eastwood’s son) from two very different worlds meet and unavoidably fall in love. While Luke is a professional bull rider living on a ranch, Sophia is a senior art student living in a sorority house, about to leave North Carolina for an internship in Manhattan.

So they should not work. But they happen to save an old guy’s life, Ira (Alan Alda), and Sophia discovers he once had a love story very similar to hers. Destiny plays its part and Sophia and Luke decide to give it a try anyway. We get to witness the growth of two love stories at two different times, with some interesting thoughts about the challenges of lasting love. Sophia and Luke are confronted with having to choose between their career and love; and some decades before that, Ruth (Oona Chaplin --yes this is Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter) was confronted with the choice of fulfilling her dream or marrying the man she loved.

It is very, very, very, very cheesy, often too much, but overall really cute and nice to watch. And while you think the story is so predictable, there are actually some unexpected twists along the way.

So not the best plot, nor the most natural scenes, but definitely a good time, and some powerful lessons about love. Embrace the cheesiness.

Grade: B