Odd casting weighs down sparkless 'Best of Me'
Michael Hoffman's "The Best of Me," another Lady-and-the-Tramp romance penned by Nicholas Sparks, will go down in Hollywood history for the worst casting choice ever made in a major movie.
Even worse than Sofia Coppola in "The Godfather 3"? Yes.
Originally, the late Paul Walker had been attached to "The Best of Me" to play the adult version of Dawson, Sparks' main male character. After Walker's death, the personable James Marsden took over the role.
Then, in a decision that casting director Elizabeth Coulon gets credit for whether she deserves it or not, Australian actor Luke Bracey was hired to play the teenage version of Marsden.
Really? What reality-altering substance were the filmmakers under when they decided this?
First, Bracey looks to be at least a decade older than his character. (The actor is actually 25.)
Second, and most obvious, Bracey and Marsden have completely different eyes, physiques and voices.
The only way that Bracey could pass for a teen version of Marsden would be in a sci-fi thriller where Dawson's soul gets transferred into a stranger's body.
At least the two Dawsons share the same gender and race.
To be fair, "The Best of Me" contains the nucleus of an inventive short story with a kicker finale. But stretched over 119 long minutes and directed with snapless flair by Hoffman, this tale of second chances becomes a wearying parade of sparkless Sparks.
After surviving a near-fatal accident on an oil rig, Dawson (Marsden) receives word that his old friend Tuck (Gerald McRaney) has died, and he's gotta show up for the reading of his will in his small hometown.
So must his high school main squeeze Amanda (Michelle Monaghan), now married to a self-centered jerk named Frank (Sebastian Arcelus). Amanda avoids Dawson, so we know there's something left she's trying to deny.
Meanwhile, the screenplay - credited to J. Mills Goodloe and Will Fetters - flashes back to their high school days when popular Amanda (Liana Liberato) takes a fancy to the stoic silence of studly Dawson (Bracey).
Surprises and twists get mixed with class clashes, family conflicts, romantic fireplaces, gleeful swimming holes and other Sparksian conventions.
And every time that Bracey and Marsden appear in back-to-back scenes, "The Best of Me" begins to look more like "Invasion of the Dawson Snatchers."
“The Best of Me”
★ ½
Starring: James Marsden, Michelle Monaghan, Luke Bracey, Liana Liberato, Gerald McRaney
Directed by: Michael Hoffman
Other: A Relativity Media release. Rated PG-13 for drug use, language, sexual situations, violence. 119 minutes