If I Stay: A Film That Reaches, Never Grasps

There are things I really do respect about If I Stay. 

It has a unique premise, good intentions, takes some risks and bravely attempts to deal with hard subject matter for a younger than 20 crowd. It handles its very dark themes and concepts with some maturity and taste. 

Unfortunately, despite all its good intentions, the result is a film that feels remarkably sedated. The direction and the script fail to pull any real drama or depth from its metaphysical premise. If I Stay is a film that is emotionally hollow with a markedly subdued feeling throughout, and one that becomes tedious after the first third of the film. 

If I Stay is a metaphysical drama that centers on Mia, played by actress Chloe Grace Moretz, a cello player who aspires to go to Julliard. The narrative begins with Mia and her family getting into a car accident, which leaves her in a coma. Mia, as a disembodied spirit hovering over her body and her friends, looks back over her life and must decide whether her life is worth returning to knowing that it has been changed forever. 

The film begins rather decently; it delivers its premise well and generates interest in the plot. Unfortunately, the film begins to go into flashbacks as Mia looks over her life as it used to be. The film shows us her parents, her best friend and how she learns to play the cello and discover her love of film. 

But mostly, it shows us the relationship between Mia and her boyfriend, a singer named Adam, played by Jamie Blackley. The majority of the film takes place here, only intermittently ever going back to the hospital setting where Mia watches over her body and her family. 

These scenes started out with some sweetness and charm, but the film becomes more and more of a troubled teen romance and less of a drama. 

The romance between Mia and Adam really doesn’t work because neither of the characters are very well-developed. We know that they both love music, but there’s nothing else for the audience to define them by. The two actors also don’t have near enough chemistry to hold the film. I found myself wishing several times for the plot to go back to the present setting because it was far more interesting. 

Very quickly, If I Stay loses all energy and any sense of urgency. There came a point in the film where it needed to stop going into the character’s past and focus more on the accident, but it continued refusing to do that. It’s very repetitive watching Mia and Adam over and over again. 

The film’s biggest problem is that its most emotionally charged moments fall flat. As we don’t care about these characters nearly as much as we should, the attempts to get us to feel for their tragedy don’t really work. 

If the film had more moments of truth, then perhaps it would have been more powerful, but the ends just feel subdued. This results in a film giving the audience nothing to latch onto.

If I Stay isn’t a terrible film, but I felt greatly disappointed at the wasted opportunity. If I Stay has some brave ideas, and it takes legitimate risks in its narrative. I wish it had contained a lot more insight and had actually been poignant, but instead it too often resorts to being manipulative.

If I Stay is a film that often reaches without ever grasping.