MOVIE SCENE
At the Movies: 'A Walk to Remember'

By Christy Lemire
AP Entertainment Writer

•	"A Walk to Remember," a Warner Bros. release, is rated PG for thematic elements, language and some sensual material. Running time: 98 minutes.

"A Walk to Remember" has them all: the pretty-ugly girl, who only has to take her hair down from its perpetual ponytail and put on a little mascara and lip gloss to become a knockout; the shallow popular guy, who undergoes a moral transformation, thanks to the pretty-ugly girl; his scorned ex-girlfriend, who seeks revenge; and the most offensive of all, the token black guy, who blasts Missy Elliott from his boom box and says things like, "A brother like me is ready to get his freak on."

But "A Walk to Remember" doesn't just steal from teen movies; it rips off elements of "Love Story," "Footloose," "As Good As It Gets" and so many others that if it pushed hard for cheap laughs, it could be a "Scary Movie"-style parody, sans gross-out jokes.

Instead, it's an overwrought teen weepy, "Terms of Endearment" for the "TRL" crowd.

It also has heavy Christian overtones — not to the extent of an evangelical Kirk Cameron vehicle about the apocalypse, but enough to make you squirm under the heat of being preached to.

Pop star Mandy Moore plays quiet Jamie Sullivan, the reverend's daughter. She walks around the small town of Beaufort, N.C., with the condescending tone and creepy, ethereal smile of the morally and spiritually righteous.

Even without makeup and dressed in baggy overalls and floor-length floral frocks, it's impossible for Moore to look dowdy — she's just too cute. But she's supposed to be the loner that all the mean, popular kids make fun of, including Landon Carter (Shane West).

Landon gets in trouble for playing a prank that lands a fellow student in the hospital, and the principal's punishment is making him tutor disadvantaged kids and perform in the school play — the same activities in which Jamie just happens to be involved.

It's obvious that these total opposites, who clash immediately, will change each other for the better and fall in love. But there are a couple of obstacles, including Jamie's dad (Peter Coyote), who doesn't approve of Landon.

And something is ailing Jamie, making her reluctant to get close to Landon. This is where the teen-age girls will want to pull out their scented Hello Kitty tissues.

Director Adam Shankman ("The Wedding Planner") drags us through the film's maudlin final scenes, which seem to last hours.

And screenwriter Karen Janszen, who adapted the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name, never passes up a chance to yank at a heartstring.

But West, who co-stars on ABC's "Once and Again," has something dark and brooding that indicates there may be more to him than the average pretty-boy actor.

And Moore shows the poise that's made her more down-to-earth and appealing than other teen pop singers. Fans of her music will be happy to know that she sings here, too — in the school play, where she lets her hair down, wears a sexy dress and belts out a love song that makes Landon fall for her character.

Compared to other recent pop star forays onto the big screen, "A Walk to Remember" isn't as boring as "On the Line," starring two of the five members of 'N Sync. But it's not nearly as much fun as the belly laughs Mariah Carey's "Glitter" inadvertently provided.