If Remember Me does well at the box office, it will in no way be a reflection of the film’s merits. Alas, Twihards will no doubt flock to the cinema to ogle over this latest Robert Pattinson vehicle and not even notice how dreary and manipulative the story is. But credit where credit’s due, the marketing has done well to spin what is essentially an overwrought family drama into a focus on the frolicking shower antics between Pattinson (swoon!) and Australia’s Emilie de Ravin.

Doing his best to shrug off the specter of Edward Cullen, Pattinson’s Tyler Hawkins is a directionless NYU student who drinks, smokes and shags around. That is until Tyler and zany best friend, Aidan (Tate Ellington) decide to get back at the tough police Sergeant Craig (Chris Cooper) by signing up for a She’s All That style bet to woo his daughter Ally (de Ravin). Tyler and Ally’s meet-cute fails to sizzle, as does their chemistry, and their fledgling relationship is too soon burdened by awkward exposition about the murder of Ally’s mother, and the suicide of Tyler’s older brother. Cue requisite family angst on both sides, but mostly focused on Tyler constant seething at his workaholic father (Pierce Brosnan) and his attempts to help his kid sister (Ruby Jerins) navigate prep-school bullies.  

The last ingredient in this melodramatic cocktail is the fact that the film is set in the summer of 2001. No, there are no points for guessing what unfolds, though it may be worth tallying up just how many in the audience are offended by a plotline that so blatantly leaches off the suffering of others. Regardless of whether or not it’s too soon to be making films about 9/11, it will always be in bad taste to use the tragedy as a trump card.

This glaring addition only further unbalances a film that can’t quite decide if it’s a college romance or a warts-and-all family drama. The story might have had the potential to follow a film like Rachel Getting Married, as a compelling ensemble looking at the divisiveness of grief. Instead, however, Remember Me goes the way of mawkish contrivance, with leather bound journals, tattoos and a Gandhi quote.  

Remember Me opens in cinemas this Thursday, March 11.
You can view the Remember Me movie trailer here on TheVine.