The movie If I Stay starring Chloe Moretz as Mia Hall and Jamie Blackley as Adam, Mia’s boyfriend is a heart wrenching, teenage girls dream movie.
This production is a first person narrative from the main character Mia, a teenage girl from Oregon, and begins in a flashback that explains most of the upcoming plot. In this flashback, it is revealed to the audience that Mia has been passionate about the cello from a young age and is now hoping to go to Juilliard in order to pursue her musical aspirations. Her rocker boyfriend Adam also has obvious dreams for music but Mia must choose between her dream college or her first love.
The stress over her indecision is heightened by Mia and her family ending up in a snowy car crash, resulting in a coma on Mia’s end. The story continues through her perspective as she decides if she wants to stay and live or if she does not.
While in the coma, she sees her family, her friends, and Adam reacting to the unfortunate fate of the accident. She also sees herself lying on the ground after the accident occurs. Although the glow surrounding her spirit is very cheesy and cliche, the out of body perspective gives the movie the effect that it is looking for.
The fate of the rest of her family after the accident strongly influence her final decision as well as the overwhelming emotion from Adam, who says he will do anything if she stays.
Although the saddening story is well acted out and a great production, those who fall outside of the description of chick-flick-loving adolescent girls will not find much enjoyment in the plot of the movie If I Stay.
This became clear with many differing reviews from critics, depending on the gender of who watched the movie. Peter
If I Stay starring Chloe Moretz as Mia Hall and Jamie Blackley as Adam
Travers from Rolling Stone gave the movie two stars because he says that even as he wrote the review, “I feel myself experiencing a loss of consciousness.” But female critic MaryAnn Johanson claims that the movie “serves as a beautiful metaphor for the choice that teen girls face.”
Depending on how much the viewer enjoys mushy romance and dramatic decisions, If I Stay could turn out to be a complete tear jerker or a total snooze.