Miley Cyrus used to be to best known for her role as Hannah Montana, and she played that TV character in her first major on-screen movie role, last year’s “Hannah Montana: The Movie”. In “The Last Song” she takes-on a much more dramatic role, and she doesn’t even sing.
The film is based on the book by Nicholas Sparks, who also wrote the screenplay. Cyrus plays Ronnie, an unhappy teenager who’s sent by her mother to live with her father for the Summer. Her parents are divorced. Oh, and her little brother comes along with her as well.
At first Ronnie doesn’t like being around her dad, who’s played by Greg Kinnear, but then she meet a boy and the two get to like each other. But things do not go well in the lives of Ronnie or the boyfriend or the father. In fact, there are a lot of story lines in “The Last Song”, too many in fact, and just about all of them involve bad things happening to people.
There’s a lot of drama in “The Last Song”. It’s a big screen soap opera. There are medical issues, fights, tragedies, break-ups. There are a few nice scenes with the family, but not enough. There are just too many sub-plots and they take-away from the main story.
As for the acting, it’s no surprise that Miley Cyrus is not the best actress in the world. Her performance ranges from o.k. to rough. Liam Hemsworth, who plays the boyfriend, is not very good either, but I liked Bobby Coleman, the younger brother. Kinnear is the best thing in the movie, while Kelly Preston, who plays the mom, is only in a few scenes.
Miley Cyrus fans will be surprised and maybe disappointed by just how serious, sad and, at times, depressing this movie is. And an attempt at an uplifting ending just doesn’t work.
“The Last Song” is rated PG for the mature themes and some brief language. It appropriate for kids 10 and up, but because of the serious tone, no one’s going home smiling.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “The Last Song” gets a C. It certainly won’t be remembered as “the feel good film of 2010.”
As for Cyrus, she may want to stick to singing roles for awhile, or go back to voice-over work. I loved her in “Bolt”.