The Best of Me 2014

Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times: We've seen this story told in similar fashion so many times in the past. I only wish we could have had it delivered in a fresher, less cliche-filled package. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: Like the artificially sweetened junk food it is, this all goes down pretty easily. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: This tale of two former lovers reuniting after a 21-year separation also functions as a study of two terrific actors struggling to overcome the relentless mediocrity of their material. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: The Best Of Me is neither the best Sparks adaptation, nor the worst; it's merely the most recent. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: A love story about as moving and genuine as a ballad crooned by a studio-manufactured boy band. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Isn't fate a funny thing? Especially when Nicholas Sparks makes it up. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: All the laughs are unintentional. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: As a drama, it fails, but the camp value is high, making it more fun than your average would-be weeper. It's silly, but at least it's not a slog. Read more

Jason Clark, Entertainment Weekly: For all of the eventfulness it jams into a (poorly edited) two-hour package, The Best Of Me ends up extracting the best of absolutely no one. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: An opposites-in-love-then-apart-then-back-and-maybe-but-no! weepie seesaw that could test even the most amenable to Sparks-ian heart-tugging. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Sinks like a rock thrown into a sun-dappled lake shaded by magnolia trees sparkling under a sky of shooting stars. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The only thing "The Best of Me" really wants is to weave a teary-eyed romantic spell by any means necessary. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: Interminably long, dragging out its molasses heart through what seem like three different endings. Read more

Michael Ordona, San Francisco Chronicle: The actors are appealing enough and Hoffman's direction calm enough to qualify "Best" as better than its predecessors. That's rather like calling it the tallest midget, however ... Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Sparks would be delighted if this movie were compared to his other story about reunited lovers, but compared to "The Notebook," "The Best of Me" is the coffee-stained outline of a sales pitch for sleeping pills. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The sunlight is golden, the accent's rural (this one's set in Louisiana), people die, sagacious letters are read aloud. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The latest gaseous emission from the Sparks melodrama machine. Read more

James Rocchi, TheWrap: "The Best of Me" to actual romance what pro wrestling is to actual sports: A loud, overdone mix of sweaty clinches and implausible events leading to a conclusion you knew well before the start, never mind before the end. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: As misguided and overemotional as a drunk high-school production of 'Romeo and Juliet', and just as weirdly, unintentionally entertaining. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The Best of Me is not the worst adaptation of Nicholas Sparks, but audiences can certainly choose better. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: The melodrama feels so hurried and half-baked that the end result isn't just disappointing. It's borderline infuriating. Read more