Endless Love is another remake out on the market. The first one hit the screens in 1981. I’m not sure why this was remade but it does have some good cast members. Alex Pettyfer (I am Number Four) and Bruce Greenwood (Pike, New Star Trek).
The plot line stays the same with a father doing anything he can to stop his daughter from growing up and falling in love with a boy she meets.
The boy is David Elliott (Pettyfer) whose held a torch for years for Jade (Gabriella Wise). Now her brother dies from cancer and it stirs him into action to ask her out. Her dad Hugh Butterfield (Greenwood) is dead set against this romance. No man near his little girl! Sneaking off into a closet with Jade and being caught, does not endear David to Hugh.
Then Jade gets a throw a party but no one from her school bar David turn up. Therefore, David rushes to the rescue by phoning the police to shut the main school graduation party down! This results in them coming over to Jade’s. Now the par-tay can begin!
Rebellion is rife when Jade invites David on an outing to a lake house. The problem is that it was supposed to be family only! Uh-oh, daddy is not amused and this leads to an unsuccessful eviction. The lovers grow closer and daddy gets madder. This leads to some big arguments, manipulation and a fire!
This is the main conflict of the film Hugh vs. David. Now while I liked this film, as it did have a charm about it – I didn’t love it. Something was missing. I could see that it struggled in places. It’s never easy doing remakes. There’s a certain plot you have to follow – or it’s not a reboot but a new tale.
Frankly, I just don’t understand why it was made. There’s no clear reason. Unless the director just happened upon the script. I’d have preferred a brand new venture. Who’s going to remember the 1981 version? So why reboot it?
Would someone just decide to randomly take on a reboot of Desmonds the barbershop? (Who remembers that?!)
I can’t see the finance sector backing Endless Love 2014 easily, as they would be cautious about spending money on unknown ventures. Okay, you got Alex Pettyfer on board which will pull in a lot of girls but this offering barely stretched his abilities. So who gave this the green light?
The family were okay, but lacked any original spark. Joely Richardson as mum Anne lacked any real authority for me. Ann seemingly goes along with events, so later when she starts to challenge her husband Hugh it just seems contrived, you know she’s only doing it because ‘the director is telling her to’!
The love story was the same as The Vow and nowhere near Dirty Dancing. A middling effort so I’m giving it 6/10.
(I searched information about the 1981 version and I am going to try get it. It stars Brooke Shields and has Tom Cruise and James Spader.)
Image reproduced from wikipedia.com
Trailer reproduced from AVEO CLIP