17 Thoughts I Had While Rewatching "A Walk to Remember" for the First Time in Ten Years
I watched A Walk to Remember for the first time at a sleepover when I was eleven years old, and it pretty much formed my idea of what love was supposed to be (minus the tragic ending) for the rest of my middle school career. Landon and Jamie were just absolutely everything.
But I haven't watched the movie in about a decade, and since it just became available on Netflix (and Mandy Moore pulled at my heartstrings with that picture from Landon and Jamie's wedding), I decided I would re-watch it to see if it held up all these years later.
Long story short: Some things did, and some things definitely didn't. Here's every thought I had while re-watching the middle school classic.
1. The cool kids aren't nearly as cool as I remembered.
Ooooh, look at us! We're drinking on school property and have a really pointlessly dangerous initiation process to join our ~crew~. We're so young and restless! We can't be tamed! They actually come off as try-hards. Not to mention, their jokes are laaaaaaame.
Exhibit A:
*Jamie walks by the crew*
Belinda: "Nice sweater."
Jamie: "Thank you."
The Crew: *Snicker conspiratorially*
Exhibit B: Actually, I think Exhibit A is more than enough proof this crew of cools is about as funny as that boy on a kindergarten playground who thinks saying "You throw like a girl!" is the worst/funniest insult ever.
2. What's up with Landon's "appropriate punishment"?
So, Landon gets caught drinking on school property and trespassing and what his principal sees as "appropriate punishment" is Landon helping the janitorial staff after school, tutoring kids on the weekend, and getting the lead in the school play.
Ummm, besides having to work on the janitorial staff for free, the principal basically just gave Landon two extracurriculars to put on his college applications. Surely, just the act of being caught drinking on school grounds would be grounds for a suspension.
3. Why is every other word out of Eric's mouth sexual?
On Landon's dancing skills: "It's true, I've seen the man bust a move and it ain't pretty, but a brother like myself is ready to get his freak on, so whatdya say, baby?"
On Jamie's wardrobe: "Hey, it's the quiet ones you gotta watch out for. I mean, she may put it on a brother like a pop tart."
On the theater teacher: "I don't know what your problem is man, Ms. Garber got some nice hooters going on, man."
And those quotes were all dispersed throughout Eric's first three scenes in the movie. It's like the writer just decided Eric was going to be the human embodiment of raging sexual hormones.
4. How did Landon land the lead role in the school play, anyway?
Let me get this straight. Landon - who has no prior theater experience - has to participate in the school play as a punishment for drinking on school property, and they hand him the lead role on a silver platter? Without even auditioning, no less! IN WHAT WORLD?! Not only is he the most unwilling, inexperienced student at the auditions, but why punish all the kids who are actually interested in theater and vying for that role?
5. Landon's passenger seat driver manners are AWFUL.
Did he seriously ask Jamie for a ride (which Jamie gave him out of the kindness of her heart despite him being a supreme jerk to her) and then proceed to diss her music, switch the radio station without even asking, and slouch down in his seat so his "cool friends" didn't see him riding around with Jamie Sullivan? Dude. Get out of the car, now.
6. Landon doesn't realize his feelings for Jamie until she curls her hair, puts on a pretty dress, and does her makeup?!
Up until the moment Jamie ditched that creepy black cloak during the performance of the school play, Landon was a huge jerk to her. Sure, she peaked his interest as he got to know her before that, but not enough to make him pursue a relationship with her. THAT didn't happen until she put on that pretty blue dress, got all done up, and sang a song to him. In other words, you can add this to the list of movies where the cool dude only gets with the girl after she gets a makeover. It's so cliche!
7. Jamie's performance, though...
It was as epic and flawless as I remembered, of course. You didn't think I could say a single, solitary bad thing about that moment, did you?
8. Where are the teachers?
How did The Crew (that's what I'm calling Landon's super ~cool~ group of friends) manage to hand out that many "Virgin Mary" flyers with Jamie's face superimposed on them without any authority figures noticing?
9. What's up with the way Dean points at Landon?
Is this gesture supposed to be intimidating? Was one finger simply not enough? Isn't that the sign for "I love you"? Is he saying he'll always love Landon while simultaneously pushing him away?
10. Why did I not notice Dean is high-key emotionally abusive to Tracie?
He yells at her to shut up all the time and accuses her of ruining the fun for being, like, a semi-decent human being. This dude is seriously no good. Landon is better off without him and hopefully Tracie gets away from him, too.
11. Why doesn't anyone realize Jamie is an undercover pop star?
"It's Gonna Be Love" by an artist that sounds oddly like Jamie (AKA Mandy Moore) is playing on the radio while Landon gingerly applies Jamie's temporary butterfly tattoo. Basically, Jamie Sullivan was living a double life as a pop star before Hannah Montana was even a thing.
12. Why does Dean hold his backpack like this?
It looks really painful, man. If you're too cool to wear it properly, how about you just wear it on one shoulder like everyone else? Like, this method can not be good for your circulation.
13. Wow, this movie really is heavy.
Even though there's a lot to side eye, the movie gets a lot right - especially the confusion and grief Jamie and Landon go through navigating their relationship. Once Landon finds out that Jamie is dying, the movie takes a really heavy and serious turn. It puts their relationship, their love, and Jamie's struggle dealing with her worsening condition at the same time as she's falling in love at the forefront, and it's really painful to watch. Maybe even more painful now than it was watching it when I was 11-years-old.
14. Landon's friends suck.
Why did it take Landon's girlfriend revealing she's dying of cancer for them to come to their senses, apologize, and be decent human beings? Landon is a better person than I for forgiving them so easily.
15. What happened to school?
Landon seems to be spending every waking minute working on Jamie's telescope, which is totally amazing of him and Jamie deserves it... but, doesn't he have any other responsibilities? Like school? Or did they graduate? Did we just miss that?
16. The wedding, though?
It was as magical as I remembered it. Jamie and Landon forever.
17. The last line still hits home like no other.
Sure, I'm older and wiser, and there was a ton not to like about A Walk to Remember, but I still love this movie so much it hurts. I just love their love!
