As sweet as A Walk to Remember tries to be, it’s never really fulfilling because it’s just so dry. The coming of age story frequently uses words like “faith”, “hope” and “love” but fails to ever really say anything significant about them. It thinks it is, but it’s really just too innocent for its own good.

The story, which is too clearly aimed at the high school Christian audience, begins by introducing us to the primary high school age character of Landon (Shane West). Landon is one of the cool kids, and finds himself having to do community service activities after he gets himself in trouble. One such activity is a play where he gets to know the lead actress, Jamie (Mandy Moore).

Jamie is just the opposite of Landon; she’s shy, conservative and religious. Despite their initial differences, Jamie and Landon begin to fall for each other. Landon does most of the changing as he begins to forsake his friends and lifestyle for her.

It all sounds nice, but it’s really no more engaging then an episode of…I don’t know what. Some TV show. Dawson’s Creek maybe – except with a Christian angle. Neither the film work nor the script work offer anything beyond a TV show and in some respects don’t even get that far.

Landon’s change of heart is sweet but never especially compelling. It’s all standard Christian story fare. Mandy Moore is cute, but never interesting and her struggles are rarely convincing. Any real sweetness is simply drowned out by its overwhelming blandness. This Walk to Remember is hardly even a watch to remember.

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