The Longest Ride

By this time, big-screen adaptations of Nicholas Sparks romance novels seem to roll off an assembly line, featuring the same sappy storyline with different pretty faces.

The latest example is The Longest Ride, which likewise doesn’t disguise its efforts to peddle shamelessly sentimental melodrama to the author’s legions of fans who make each successive film almost immune to criticism.

The young lovers in this case are Luke (Scott Eastwood), a champion bull rider attempting to come back after a severe injury, and Sophia (Britt Robertson), an art student whose internship could lead to a lucrative job at a gallery in New York.

After exchanging glances at a rodeo, they don’t waste any time before the flirting begins at a barn dance, and they later enjoy kisses on the beach and in the rain, and steam up the shower, all set to the requisite music swells.

Despite their disparate interests, Luke and Sophia deepen their romance before they meet Ira (Alan Alda), an elderly widower they rescue after a car accident. While nursing him back to health, Sophia becomes enchanted by Ira’s tales of love from decades earlier, finding parallels in her own relationship.

The usual Sparks hallmarks are in place, right down to the North Carolina setting. Perhaps the most original element is the rodeo sequences, which are spiced up by director George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food) with slow motion and bone-crunching sound effects to make you appreciate the athletic ability of the cowboys and their bovine adversaries.

For what it’s worth, Eastwood and Robertson develop a reasonable chemistry that helps bring conviction to some of the more intimate scenes. In what might be a breakthrough role, Eastwood conveys a rugged masculinity that will remind plenty of moviegoers of his father, Clint, who has directed him on multiple occasions.

As the contrivances pile up in the sluggish screenplay by Craig Bolotin (Black Rain), so does the need to suspend disbelief, as even the scattered poignant moments are compromised by the film’s aggressive emotional manipulation.

The parallel narrative structure is familiar territory for Sparks presumably meant to maximize the story’s demographic appeal. That’s a shrewd move that signals an emphasis more on commercial rather than creative success.

Rated PG-13, 128 minutes.