Watch The Longest Ride For Free

Simply Perfect

Don't listen to the negative reviews

As Good As It Gets

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Nicholas Sparks has an enduring audience – his novels are read by those of all age who love romance stories and his books are consistently transformed into successful films. In the case of THE LONGEST RIDE the screenwriter is Craig Bolton and he ha managed to make Sparks' story even more significant and touching than the original book. Much of that is, of course, due to director George Tillman, Jr. and a cast able to create the present and the past with aplomb.At first the audience may be put off by the violent brutality of bull riding – violent for both the bull and the human rider – but as the story progresses this degree of gut courage and commitment plays well in the film. The story centers on the star-crossed love affair between Luke (Scott Eastwood, a significant growth in presence), a former champion bull rider looking to make a comeback, and Sophia (Britt Robertson), a college student at Wake Forest in North Carolina who is about to embark upon her dream job in New York City's art world. As conflicting paths and ideals test their relationship, Sophia and Luke make an unexpected connection with injured Ira Levinson (Alan Alda) whose memories of his own decades-long romance with his beloved wife (the young Ira being played by Jack Huston and his wife Ruth played by Oona Chaplin) deeply inspire the young couple. Spanning generations and two intertwining and very parallel love stories, THE LONGEST RIDE explores the challenges and infinite rewards of enduring love.In addition to the mentioned actors, supporting roles are well managed by Lolita Davidovich as Luke's mother and Elea Oberon as Ruth's mother and Kate Forbes as Ira's mother. Mark Isham wrote the musical score. The inclusion of fine art plays a major role, both in the parallel stories of Sophia and Ruth and in the sensitive manner in which the story ends. THE LONGEST RIDE is a sweet and satisfying film.

I would have given this movie 6 stars if it weren't that Scott Eastwood is such a bad actor. You shouldn't notice that someone is acting. I found myself trying to ignore this so I could get into the story.The rest of the cast was pretty good, especially Jack Huston and Oona Chaplin, who were very genuine.Now to the story. It was just OK. I knew what was going to happen pretty much from the beginning, and we needed the Hollywood ending. Probably a more realistic ending and a better handling of the jumps back and forth between the two actual stories would have created a better movie.

This movie has incorporated 2 very memorable, emotional story's in an interesting way that I have not seen before in a movie. Throughout the entire movie, I was left thinking 'what is going to happen next?'. There was not a point where I wanted to skip or leave the movie, keeping me engaged throughout the entire 2 Hour run time. There are not many movies like this that makes you feel like that, but 'The Longest Ride' has done am amazing job of that.The actors really delivered the characters feelings to the audience and other characters. My favorite is the relationship between Luke and his mum. The fact that they are at opposite ends of the scale on the topic of bull riding. There characters with their few interactions on screen really sell this. There are a few funny parts that keeps it from being a full on serious or of movie. The main topic of interest in this movie is bull riding and art, neither I am extremely passionate about, but it was still an amazing movie that anyone can enjoy.

Filled with more cheese and sap than a full season of Days of our Lives, The Longest Ride wears its Hallmark like heart on its cowboy sleeve and never once tries to hide it but for a film that so easily could've been too mawkish to take, it ends up being a likable, watchable and most importantly smile inducing effort.As a word of warning, anyone that has found Nicholas Sparks adaptations like The Notebook, A Walk to Remember or Nights at Rodanthe unbearable then stay as far away as possible from Ride as like those films it features impossibly cute couples being in love like only novels and movies can portray and with this film you don't just get one love story, you get two. Talk about great value! This two pronged element is quite likely the main reason Ride never becomes too unbearable and at 2 hours in length it could've easily become that but experienced director George Tillman Jr. handles both the modern day story of bull rider Luke Collins and art loving college student Sophia and also the told via flashback story of Boardwalk Empire's Jack Huston's Ira and Oona Chaplin's Ruth in a way that the film never gets to bogged down in either story mode and the audience is able to enjoy their time spent with these love birds before they start to get annoying, whether it be Britt Robertson's OTT laugh or Oona Chaplin's off putting accent.Like all Sparks adaptations before it and likely after it, Ride finds young attractive couples to take centre stage here and while the chemistry of both Eastwood and Robertson and then Huston and Chaplin isn't at a Notebook like level they all share an easy to like persona which helps these slightly unbelievable characters feel a little more real. The most interesting of these is Eastwood's Luke, while his like a fairy-tale cowboy Luke isn't your typical male lead and while he has a long way to go Clint Eastwood Jr shows enough to suggest a career as a leading man like his father isn't out of the equation.A slight bit more cheerful than your average Sparks story thanks to an almost groan inducing ending, The Longest Ride is a romantic tale that thankfully boyfriends, partners and husbands the world over can watch with their better halves and enjoy rather than count down the minutes until the pain is over.3 full faced Richard Harrow's out of 5