If I Stay (PG) - 'the most banal dialogue this side of a Nicholas Sparks movie'

Actors Joshua Leonard and Chloe Grace Moretz attend the premiere of New Line Cinema's and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures' "If I Stay" at TCL Chinese Theatre

George Byrne

Romantic drama starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Jamie Blackley, Joshua Leonard, Mireille Leonard, Lauren Lee Smith, Stacy Keach. Directed by RJ Cutler.

A talented cellist has ambitions to be accepted into the prestigious Juilliard academy.

However, a tragic car accident leaves Mia having an out-of-body experience as she lies in a coma.

Thus we get her story told in flashback, detailing how she engages with her hipster parents (Joshua Leonard and Mireille Enos) and, particularly, the arc of her relationship with Adam (Jamie Blackley), the dishy lead singer with a hot Portland band.

With arguably the most banal dialogue this side of a Nicholas Sparks movie, If I Stay wastes the considerable talents of Moretz in a calculated tear-jerker aimed squarely at young teenage girls, who definitely deserve better than a movie which makes The Lovely Bones look like a neo-realist classic.