KEEP CALM AND LOVE BOOKS: grad

Release Year: 2014

Genre: Drama/Romance

Length of film: 1h 45m

Director: Shana Feste

Following their high-school graduation, Jade Butterfield (Gabriella Wilde), a sheltered but privileged teen, becomes enthralled with David Elliot (Alex Pettyfer), a working-class youth with a troubled past. Though Jade and David quickly fall in love, Jade's father (Bruce Greenwood) strongly disapproves of the relationship, while David's father (Robert Patrick) advises caution. However, their parents' disapproval only makes the love-struck teens more determined to pursue the intense affair.

The trailer for Endless Love

Now, What I Thought:

I've never actually done a movie review before so please don't compare this to the blogs that focus mainly on these. I was browsing Netflix just 2 hours ago and I came across this film and I thought, "Oh what the hell, I want to feel inspired." Boy did I make the right choice!!! I really thoroughly enjoyed this movie! Something I did not know coming into it, was that it's actually an adaptation from Scott Spencer's novel, Endless Love, published in 1979. Whether I'll go ahead and read the book, I haven't decided yet, but I will definitely write a review on it if I do. This movie was very romantic yet inspiring. I found myself relating to Jade quite often and I understood what she felt and was going through. I really loved the character David. I found him genuinely sweet and caring, and those are traits that many lead male roles nowadays often lack. As for Alex Pettyfer, meh. I was never a fan of the actor, I found the only thing wrong with the casting part was him, everyone else was beautifully casted. I did like his little british accent cameo in the film; FYI, the actor is actually from the UK so that's why I did find it funny when he whipped that out.

Can I just express how much I love the actress who played Jade! She was fantastic! I honestly couldn't think of a better actress to play such a beautiful, timid, butterfly of a character! I use the word butterfly because I really did feel like she just opened up and blossomed (Jade, not the actress haha) towards the middle and was finally getting to live her life. You could really tell that her eldest brother's death affected her more than it did Keith (Jade's other older brother). I really liked that we even got insight on Keith's own relationship and the parents! Their mother really is such a cool person and so understanding. I liked that small detail that she was a pronounced writer before and how we got some knowledge on how her life has changed.

I did often understand where Hugh, Jade's father, was coming from, definitely. I understood that suddenly this boy comes into her life and she wants to drop and throw away her ambition for med school just to spend more time with him. It would seem absurd if that happened in real life and I'm more than sure my own father would act the exact same way, if not more aggressive. The producer really made him the 'antagonist' of the film when they added some details about his marriage (for obvious reasons I won't name what). I still actually liked him better than David's father, Harry. For some reason Harry really rubbed me the wrong way. I found him shallow and just wanting his son to stay and take over the shop. A parent is supposed to let their children go at some point to find their dream and live their own life, not keep them back with guilt for leaving you. I just didn't like how Harry approached things and his hesitation when David was clearly so happy to even be considering college.

All in all, I really enjoyed this film and I will probably re-watch it soon, as I usually do with my favourites. This has definitely been added to "My List" on my Netflix account, rest assured. The drama was fantastic, the romance was amazing and the whole journey between Jade and David was absolutely lovely. The movie left me inspired and really happy so all pluses for me! Go watch it!!!!