Teenage melodrama If I Stay takes place somewhere between heaven and earth, life and death. Documentary maker RJ Cutler (The September Issue) seems torn between the compulsion to make something soaring and inspirational and something grounded and gritty – and, so, ends up slipping between stools.
Chloe Moretz is Mia, an introverted cello player with charming, witty rocker parents and a bland boyfriend, Adam (Jamie Blackley). Though Mia dreams of attending Juilliard, Adam feels that accompanying her to New York would be bad for his music career. When a car crash leaves Mia in a coma and a state of limbo, she must decide if she has anything left to live for.
Cutler often errs on the side of understatedness. Mia’s pre-crash problems feel quiet and understandable, and her relationship is neither romanticised nor patronised. However this sensibility can veer into blandness – making the absurdly overwrought second half feel all the more jarring, especially as Moretz’s voice-over brings doses of schmaltz to her otherwise grounded character.
Unapologetically geared towards teenage girls who didn’t quite meet their tear quota with The Fault In Our Stars, most other people will struggle to stay the course.