Yet another page in the young-adult novel-to-film-adaptation turns in If I Stay. Simply put, this is the story a young cellist in a coma who has an out-of-body experience and gets to overhear her friends and family members express their deep love for her. Unfortunately, it is a well-performed but overly glossy production that just doesn’t resonate emotionally.
Despite being born to wild rocker parents, teenaged Mia (Chloë Grace Moretz) is a wallflower who spends her days obsessing over classical music. Tragedy strikes after her family are involved in a serious car accident. The protagonist wakes up on site and finds herself in a ghost-like state. She is conscious, but not visible to others. She slowly begins to learn the fate of her family and must decide whether or not to awake from her coma. As this is occurring, viewers are treated to flashbacks of the previous 18 months in her life. Most of the events detail her tumultuous relationship with a musician boyfriend, Adam (Jamie Blackley).
The film benefits from its stars and when focused on the family members, it isn’t bad. Mia’s mother (Mireille Enos) and father (Joshua Leonard) are a nice twist on the parental roles normally found in this type of movie. They even have some amusing scenes with their kids. In fact, they actually approve of and encourage their daughter’s new relationship. Screen veteran Stacey Keach also has an effective moment or two as the protagonist’s grandfather.
The teen stars also do their best and manage to save the film from unintentional parody, but they’re not given much help from the script. At one point, the Adam character has to deliver a particularly gooey line about how he has noticed and “sees” Mia despite her best attempts to remain in the fringes of high school society. While it’s a line that may make tween girls swoon, for everyone else it will cause eyes to roll several times over.
It all becomes a hopeless endeavor for the cast when the movie emphasizes the teen romance and angst so strongly. Adam has abandonment issues that cause friction. Mia is concerned about being accepted to Julliard on the other side of the country and drifting apart from her beau. They’re charismatic kids, but the serious and dramatic undertone of the film is undercut with the relationship histrionics. Also lending a falseness to the proceedings are the musical montages of the pair in each other’s arms and several gauzy, soft-focus romance scenes that include one set in a small, broken-down shack on a pier. Sadly, viewers waiting for Adam to compose a song about the experience will be disappointed (it’s too bad – “Workshed Love” has number one hit written all over it!).
Events really slow down as Mia is forced to make her decision, which leads to almost all of her friends and relatives stopping by, breaking down into tears and expressing to the unconscious protagonist how much they care for her. It’s not that the scenes aren’t effectively performed, but seeing one after another after another slows the film down and takes one out of the experience. And although the story purports that Mia ultimately chooses her fate, it doesn’t seem to be much of a decision. While nods are made to the importance of both sacrifice and struggling onward, the final call doesn’t really come across as an actual decision on her part.
Sure, this film was made for younger audiences. However, given the themes there’s still too much over-baked romance and far too little existential examination. The movie also ends without resolving another big question, leading one to wonder if the makers don’t have some crazy idea in the back of their heads for a follow-up. The stars are good but the script isn’t and it’s unlikely that If I Stay will remain in the heads of viewers long enough to warrant any further resolution.