There are books so amazing that people want to make them into movies.  There are movies so horrible that the books they’re based on are forever tainted by the jeers and catcalls of cinemagoers and at home bad-movie marathons.  But when an author loses the rights to any future remakes, guess what?  You get another Endless Love.  Definitely not a story about one young man’s borderline psychotic obsession with a girl and her family, this new film is all about l’amour, and how two young people fight hard to keep it.  And while it’s leaps and bounds better than the horrible train wreck that was Zefferelli’s version back in 1981, the main thing this Endless Love has going for it is that it doesn’t totally suck.

You say you’ve seen teen romance flicks before? Yeah you have.  And if you’re wondering if there’s anything different about this film, there isn’t.  It’s got the usual Harlequin storyline: boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, there is An Obstacle, there is Another Obstacle, then cue the possibility of a Happy Ending.  This Endless Love throws in the basics from the film before it (and Scott Spencer’s novel on which they’re both based), and throws out everything else.  If you’re looking for a film that’ll put you through the wringer and then give you hearts and flowers as an end-scene apology, this is just the ticket.  But as with other films based on beloved novels that have come onto the scene lately, anyone wanting to see the original story brought to life is best served by re-reading the source material.

Did I like this remake?  Yes and no.  I’m a huge fan of super-duper make-believe romantic films (hello, The Holiday, While You Were Sleeping and Serendipity!), but not  so much the bittersweet genre.  So I worried that sitting through a film about one boy’s obsession with a love that has ended would be like pulling teeth.  And in a way it was.  But writer/director Shana Feste (Country Strong) loves a good positive end note — bless her sweet heart — and though I kept trying to figure out when [Insert Character Here] was going to die/become comatose/kill somebody?  Nothing truly bad happens beyond one character being a complete and utter jerk.  Oh, and kudos to Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek Into Darkness) for pulling that off so convincingly.

As the lovely and sheltered Jade, Gabriella Wilde (Carrie) isn’t given much more to do than to radiate loveliness.  She does manage to bring a bit of gumption to a thinly drawn character, and the camera loves her, so it’s a pleasure to watch her work.  David, the boy obsessed in ‘81 becomes David the boy who is amazingly perfect, and Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) steps into these shoes effortlessly.  As with Jade, David is a cut-out; he’s simply a boy who the fates have screwed with, one whose sole purpose in life is to love Jade.  Pettyfer gives David a bit of real-world grounding, and his scenes with Robert Patrick (as dad Harry) and Dayo Okeniyi (as BFF Mace, stealing every scene he’s in) show a character — and a world — I’d have liked to have gotten to know better.

The soundtrack is one of the things this Endless Love gets right.  It’s all over the map, with Salt &Pepa, Empire of the Sun, Tegan and Sarah, Echosmith and Little Feat smashed together in a mix that totally works.  In fact, if it’s a Spotify playlist, I’ma subscribe to that sucker.  The costuming is wonderful too, giving the upper-class Georgia folk subtle designer glamor, while the rest of the folks look like people you’d really see in suburbia.  Much, much more beautiful of course, but the threads are spot-on.  And the movie’s themes of stifling the one’s you love and becoming who you are get first-class treatment, especially in the scenes with Jade and her father.  Oh, and there’s another love story here, the one between Jade’s parents.  That one isn’t all that it seems, and I’d have loved to have been able to follow that romance, especially with the talented Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck) as Jade’s mom Anne, who works perfectly with Greenwood’s Hugh.

This particular Endless Love has the feeling of a future fan favorite, the kind of film that grows on a fan base and ends up being a frequent Netflix/Hulu pick for romance fans that found this film when they themselves were in high school.  But right now it’s a film that isn’t lighthearted enough for romantics, and will alienate viewers looking for catharsis by pulling it’s punches when things are supposed to get rough.  Jade and David may find happiness, but at the multiplex this film won’t be as lucky.