If I Stay Movie Review

If I Stay: The Movie

After a long summer of waiting I finally got to see one of my absolute favorite books come to life on the big screen! I read If I Stay for the first time a couple years ago and it's stuck with me since. It's such a heartbreaking and beautiful story. After the great emotional adaptation that was The Fault In Our Stars, I went into this one with pretty high hopes.

All the casting and the trailers were really well done. I didn't have any problems with anyone. Heck, I even teared up watching the trailer. What can I say? I'm a sap.

So, it was........INCREDIBLE!

We've got the main character, Mia Hall, a shy dedicated cello player. She has her parents, her younger brother Teddy, and her best friend Kim.

Then enter Adam.

Lead singer/guitarist of the band Willamette Stone (which was Shooting Star in the book but whatev) and wonderfully charming. The two hit it off due to their mutual love of music and start one epic romance.

And they have some hiccups of course. You put a punk rock dude and a introverted girl together and they don't mesh perfectly at first. But it makes it so much more real.

Things get really rocky once Adam's band really starts getting some recognition and Mia applies to Juilliard. Neither wants to hold the other back.

Then on a snow day in Portland, Mia and her family decide to go out for the day. They all hop in the car and argue over music and everything is normal. Until...it's not. It's never normal again. The ice on the road causes another car to swerve into them and BAM emotional whiplash.

Be aware that this is what you're signing up for. Don't go in blind. This movie is saaaaaad.

After the crash Mia wakes up to find she's standing next to her body. She calls for her family and searches. But the ambulance starts to take her real body away so she follows it. 

While in the hospital Mia asks everyone for answers but no one notices her. While in surgery a nurse whispers her the truth, whether she lives of dies, it's up to her. You think it's an easy choice. Who wouldn't want to live?

But not everybody makes it out of the crash.

With all the loss she'd be waking up to, it's not so easy.

The movie goes back and forth between flashbacks and the hospital. It gives you a chance to really see what the relationships and friendships were like and worked smoothly. I was a bit worried about how they were going to pull this off, but they did.

While debating Mia gets a few key visitors that nudge her in different directions. Her grandpa's speech made me sob out loud in the theater.

By a certain point I just cried the rest of the movie because even the happy parts hurt and non-crash related fights hurt and everything hurt okay.

Should have brought some tissues man.

Then we finally get down to the hour of truth where Adam makes the final plea for Mia to stay.

I don't want to give too much of this movie away because it's just so worthy of actually seeing. Who wants to go to a movie where they know exactly what happens??

So you want to know if she stays? Go see the movie. Bring a friend. Buy some popcorn. Or sneak in a tub of ice cream like I did. A few Kleenex should also be a must.

Overall: 5/5 Stars

This movie did the book so much justice. All my favorite parts were perfect and it was just great. It really captured the feel of the book. The acting was brilliant and so was the pacing. It doesn't drag at all. At the beginning it felt a tiny bit cheesy and iffy but quickly grew out of it.

There were some changes, but none that I wasn't okay with. Adam and Mia fought more and the grandpa was more involved (sobs over grandpa). I thought the changes actually made the movie better. As did the song at the end. Right in the feels.

BONUS!!!

Excited about all the great music you heard in the movie? You should be. The movie band recorded all the music and it's actually the guy playing Adam singing (#swoon). It's a great movie soundtrack purchase that I am enjoying listening to on repeat.

So if you're looking for a nice emotional movie or a good cry go buy a ticket. Of course I recommend reading the book first, but if you don't you really should go see it. It's a great movie on it's own.

Fingers crossed for a Where She Went movie!

Quotes

"But the you who you are tonight is the same you I was in love with yesterday, the same you I'll be in love with tomorrow."

"Wanna bone? Come on, at least give me your bone number!"

"I'm not good about writing about things that make me happy."

"Life is a big fat gigantic stinking mess."

*pretty much everything Adam says*

#liveforlove