Mark Kermode, Observer film critic 

If I Stay review – a life-and-death teen romance with smarts

Chloë Grace Moretz stars in this tale of a young woman’s comatose cosmic experiences, which credits its audience with intelligence, writes Mark Kermode
  
  

If I Stay
‘United by star-crossed love’: Jamie Blackley and Chloë Grace Moretz in If I Stay. Photograph: Doane Gregory Photograph: Doane Gregory/PR

Hot on the heels of The Fault in Our Stars comes another teen romancer in which love is a matter of life and death. Adapted from Gayle Forman's YA novel by Whip It screenwriter Shauna Cross, this stars Chloë Grace Moretz as comatose car-crash victim Mia, whose disembodied soul walks the corridors of the hospital in which her entire family are battling for survival. As Mia wrestles with cosmic questions, her relationship with Portland rocker Adam (Jamie Blackley) unfolds in flashback – the classical cellist and electric guitarist united by star-crossed love. It sounds mawkish as hell, but director RJ Cutler reads his target teen audience well, crediting them with more intelligence and resilience than one might expect. Strong supporting performances from Stacy Keach and Mireille Enos help, as does the fact that Moretz looks like she's actually playing her cello, something movies rarely get right.

 

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