The Longest Ride - C

Rated PG-13, 128 minutes
Wes's Grade: C

Handsome leads and Alda aside, the stale romance drama "The Longest Ride" sure feels like one

No matter how you spin the mildly compelling but woefully formulaic new romantic drama "The Longest Ride," you've taken a ride down this star-crossed trail of tears with Nicholas Sparks before: this is essentially "The Notebook," told cowboy-style. The movie tells the story of Luke (Scott Eastwood, Clint's doppleganger son), a former champion bull rider looking to make a comeback, and Sophia (Britt Robertson), a college student who is about to embark upon her dream job in New York City's art world. As conflicting paths and ideals test their relationship, Sophia and Luke make an unexpected and fateful connection with Ira (Alan Alda), whose memories of his own decades-long romance with his beloved wife deeply inspire the young couple. Directed by George Tillman, Jr. (of the "Barbershop" movies) and written by Craig Bolotin, based on Sparks' best-selling novel of the same name, the overlong, dull "The Longest Ride" has some touching moments and handsome leads, but is so calculated and sappy its title becomes a huge understatement (and a special note to the guys, the underlying message of the film is about making sacrifices for love-consider this one of them). Sparks has become to romance movies what Stephen King became to horror movies, and "The Longest Ride" bears the familiar Sparks formula: star-crossed, tragic lovers forced to tough decisions while looking pretty in the rain and/or dirt. Fortunately, this Sparks effort, in true "Notebook" style, is saved by the immensely charming Alda, and his backstory, featuring the lovely Oona Chaplin (Charlie's grandaughter) and "Boardwalk Empire's" Jack Huston, is much more interesting and well-acted than the stale contemporary story, which is given more screen time but still isn't all that fleshed out or interesting. Young, bland newcomers Robertson and especially Eastwood, who seems poised for stardom after this role, are easy on the eyes, likely making up for how boring and cliched their storyline is; and for the record, the movie's last contrivance (among many throughout the film), involving trusting some valuable artwork to this dopey pair, is simply ridiculous. "The Longest Ride" pulls absolutely no surprises and is mainly for Sparks' large fan base, who tend to know exactly what they're getting into. This time it just happens to be a lot of bull.