If I Stay
Where’s an F-bomb when you need one? TV veteran R.J. Cutler’s sappy riff on Gayle Forman’s young adult weepie novel expands Chloë Grace Moretz’s CV – there’s no swearing, vampirism, telekinesis – but as between-life-and-death movies go it makes Ghost look like Mulholland Dr.
he cast provide what life it has: Moretz is winning as Mia, a teen cellist left in a coma after a car crash. Jamie Blackley makes light work of her rock’n’roll boyfriend too. But as ghost-Mia reflects on her life, the film strains painfully to crawl to itself: Hit-Girl would positively gag on its phoney hipster-speak, pop homilies and groovy parents.
