The world would be a better place if Nicholas Sparks had never been born

I’d be embarrassed if I made a living off of fictional dead women. But I do get how a young teen could find these stories intensely moving.

The skin tones don’t even match up! How could you possibly be upset by that? Of course, it gave Landon the opportunity to reveal himself as a “good guy.” It probably wasn’t great for my emotional and sexual development to believe that some asshole teen boy might come around and be nice to you, but only really if you’re a chaste, Christian virgin and/or have cancer.

Kate: It’s hard to say now what I found so fascinating about it all (probably the romance), given how little I relate to the subject matter now, but that scene is, in hindsight, an incredible comedic gift, one that is hard to take seriously even given the degree to which teen bullying has gotten even more intense since 2002. Now it reads as she’s being shamed for not being sexual enough, which sucks, except I always felt like her dad was super overprotective and she probably wouldn’t have been so square if he hadn’t forced his ways on her. But maybe I’m remembering it all wrong because it’s been so long?

Kara: It sort of doesn’t even matter how well you remember the plot which is great. I love how Jamie was super into astronomy which is exactly the kind of hobby you expect a beautiful, sick, religious teen to have.

Kara: The interview also recalls what has to be the best exchange in the whole movie where Jamie warns: “You have to promise not to fell in love with me.”

And Landon replies: “That’s not a problem.”

THAT IS SO RUDE. Granted, he doesn’t know she leukemia at the time but still. God that was funny. It’s amazing how A Walk to Remember has gone from the movie that made me cry the hardest to the movie that has me cackling at every scene. Not many films can pull that off!

Kate: You could argue that it holds up in how far it runs the emotional gamut. Or that it holds up in that I’m talking about a bad Nicholas Sparks movie in which the protagonist dies 15 years later, one I thought I knew by heart and now realize I desperately need to rewatch.