Adorable stars elevate Lifetime Channel-grade romance 'Forever My Girl'
<h3 class="briefHead">"Forever My Girl" - ★ ★ ½</h3>
"If you're a fan of Nicholas Sparks movies, you'll LOVE #ForeverMyGirl."
This promotional tagline cuts to the essence of Bethany Ashton Wolf's romantic fantasy "Forever My Girl."
Even if you're not a fan of Sparks movies ("The Notebook," "Dear John," "Safe Haven" plus others), "Forever My Girl" offers several appealing elements.
The three leads exude adorable cuteness. The story oozes sentiment, gentle humor and resonating themes of forgiveness and second chances. And third chances. Plus the soundtrack pulses with original country/western tunes impressively sung by British actor Alex Roe, who mastered a passable Louisiana accent by reportedly listening to country songs for six consecutive months.
But those same earnest songs - composed by musicians Jackson Odell and Brett Boyett - bludgeon us with the story's emotions and themes with such ker-thudding literalness, it's as if Wolf didn't trust her actors to convey them.
"Forever My Girl," written by Wolf from Heidi McLaughlin's best-seller, tells a variation of a phrase from the biblical book of Matthew: What shall it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?
Roe plays Liam Page, a young man in the small town of St. Augustine, who inexplicably dumps his high school sweetheart Josie Preston (Jessica Rothe) at the altar on their wedding day. They don't speak for eight years.
Liam becomes a country music superstar. But he still carries his old cellphone containing a voicemail from Josie, a mystery message he says he listens to every night.
The funeral of a high school buddy brings Liam back home where townspeople confirm what a bad, bad boy he's been.
While living a shallow, hedonistic life, he has shut out not only Josie, but his widower father, the gentle Pastor Brian Page (John Benjamin Hickey).
At the funeral, a seething Josie confronts Liam and punches him in the gut. Of course, if you've seen the film's trailers and commercials, you know that lost boy Liam will rekindle sparks with the unmarried Josie, especially after he discovers her 7-year-old daughter Billy (a comically precocious Abby Ryder Fortson, 8 at the time of filming) belongs to him.
Billy mercilessly grills Liam on his destructive decisions.
"I said I wanted to meet him," Billy tells her concerned mom. "But I never said I'd be easy on him!"
Josie's protective brother Jake (Tyler Riggs) doesn't trust Liam's sudden change of heart and coldly predicts Liam will abandon his sister again.
Rothe, a luminous screen presence and star of the upcoming musical version of Martha Coolidge's 1983 teen comedy "Valley Girl," pumps Josie with salubrious charisma.
Yet, her character doesn't get the same clear arc as Liam does. Her eagerness to share Liam's wham-bam-glam lifestyle as the superstar's special "one" seems counter to her character, especially since Liam previously chose the trappings of fame and fortune over her.
Scenes of Liam whisking a dolled-up Josie off to New Orleans in a helicopter look more like outtakes from "The Bachelor" than a segment from a high-grade Lifetime Channel contender.
Roe is splendid as the penitent lost boyfriend trying to find his way home. His reserved attitude emanates star-level cool, and his musical performances stand on their own.
But just in case, country music star Travis Tritt pops in to play Walter, a - you guessed it - pretty good country singer.
<b>Starring:</b> Alex Roe, Jessica Rothe, Abby Ryder Fortson, John Benjamin Hickey
<b>Directed by:</b> Bethany Ashton Wolf
<b>Other:</b> A Roadside Attractions release. Rated PG. 104 minutes