‘Along for the Ride’ brings sweetness to summer love and friendship
So many movies about love are so preoccupied with big hearts and big feelings and notions of swooning forever that they forget the importance of being likable. That the characters are appealing, and that we believe that they see something in each other beyond grand infatuation that’s treated as a recipe for perpetual bliss.
This is not a problem in “Along for the Ride,” adapted by writer-director Sofia Alvarez (“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”) from Sarah Dessen’s novel. Auden (Emma Pasarow of “Super Pumped,” impressive) is kindness and uncertainty without seeming bland or generically withdrawn, and Eli (Belmont Cameli of Peacock’s unfortunately just-canceled “Saved by the Bell”) is curiosity and energy that are both coated in avoidance. It makes sense why they spark and why they clash, and no matter how good things get the movie doesn’t claim that these two young people (Auden just graduated high school, Eli is a couple years older) are a sure thing–thankfully the word “endgame” is never used. It also understands the emotional work that will need to be done to overcome their difficulties in a way that is far beyond the typical, pandering messages in the neighborhood of “Just breathe.”
The simple narrative involves Auden spending the summer before college in a small beach community, where she thinks she might adjust her personality and connect with others in a way she has struggled to do previously. But one of many winning aspects of “Along for the Ride” is its ability to be innocent without seeming chaste; these young characters feel both enlightened and confused, clear about certain aspects of their values and priorities while searching for their place in the bigger world and a section of sand. There’s a lot of warmth here, aided by supporting turns from Andie MacDowell (as Auden’s mother), Kate Bosworth (Auden’s stepmother) and Dermot Mulroney (Auden’s long-disappointing father). An emotionally attuned, low-key story that knows its characters well and feels authentic about being young should be up most people’s alley.
Unfortunately there are several moments and characters that feel like cliches of YA literature or coming-of-age movies and knock “Along for the Ride” down a couple pegs. The ease with which Auden goes from socially awkward loner to part of a flawlessly supportive squad might be a bit close to fantasy, or a sunnier take on the “Simpsons” episode “Summer of 4 ft. 2.” But material like this gives beach reading–er, beach viewing?—a good name. It’s refreshing to see a teen rom-com where the annoyances are the exceptions instead of the rule.
B
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