Sarah Dessen is my favorite author, and Along for the Ride is one of my favorite books. I reread it in anticipation for this, and was so excited for it to come out. Unfortunately though I'm very disappointed as the movie fell flat. Really didn't feel any connections to the characters.
The movies was slow in places it didn't need to be (actually boring in some spots) and zipped through other important storylines. The struggle of Heidi raising Thisbe all on her own, and Auden stepping in to help on numerous occasions was completely non existent here, and it's a major plot point of the book. Thisbe was barely even crying in this movie. I get that it's a movie and things need to be condensed and changed, but I just feel like they did it so much that it kind of ruined the story. Auden and Heidi didn't really get along at first, Auden judged Heidi like her mom did, but in the movie they were close the whole time. Eli and Auden's relationship too was also pretty dry here, don't really get to connect with them and watch their feelings grow. I had such high hopes because it's my favorite book, Netflix, and was directed by the writer of the screenplay for To All the Boys I've Loved Before, but it didn't have that same spark as I hoped it would.
The movies was slow in places it didn't need to be (actually boring in some spots) and zipped through other important storylines. The struggle of Heidi raising Thisbe all on her own, and Auden stepping in to help on numerous occasions was completely non existent here, and it's a major plot point of the book. Thisbe was barely even crying in this movie. I get that it's a movie and things need to be condensed and changed, but I just feel like they did it so much that it kind of ruined the story. Auden and Heidi didn't really get along at first, Auden judged Heidi like her mom did, but in the movie they were close the whole time. Eli and Auden's relationship too was also pretty dry here, don't really get to connect with them and watch their feelings grow. I had such high hopes because it's my favorite book, Netflix, and was directed by the writer of the screenplay for To All the Boys I've Loved Before, but it didn't have that same spark as I hoped it would.