{"id":479,"date":"2018-01-19T17:38:06","date_gmt":"2018-01-20T00:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/?p=479"},"modified":"2018-01-23T14:49:41","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T21:49:41","slug":"forever-my-girl-beautifully-setting-sappy-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/2018\/forever-my-girl-beautifully-setting-sappy-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Forever My Girl &#8211; Beautiful Setting, Sappy Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-482\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ForeverMG.poster-e1516408465590.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"200\" \/> After being gone for a decade a country star returns home to the love he left behind. KIDS FIRST! Adult Juror, Kimbirly O. comments, \u201cThe setting is beautiful, a fictitious city in the south where everyone knows each other. The southern charm is palpable and warm. I was hoping for a solid romantic story about young love. What was delivered is the very element of sap, much like what is broadcast on the Hallmark Channel, complete with a happy ending.\u201d See her full review below.<\/p>\n<p>Forever My Girl<br \/>\nBy Kimbirly Orr, KIDS FIRST! Adult Juror<\/p>\n<p>If you love a love story, especially in the vein of a Nicolas Sparks novel, this film is for you. The film is based on a novel written by a woman, Heidi McLaughlin and the screenplay is written and directed by a woman, Bethany Ashton Wolf.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Forever My Girl Official Trailer #2 (2018) -- Regal Cinemas [HD]\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XEwZgbr8T60?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-481 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ForeverMG.a-e1516408390820.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"134\" \/><em>Forever My Girl<\/em> depicts a man who left his bride at the altar. This does not seem like a story any woman wants to tell. Given the marketing mentions Nicholas Sparks and seeking to attract his audiences, it tells me a lot about the studio&#8217;s lack of faith in the film.<\/p>\n<p>I cannot lie, <em>Forever My Girl<\/em> did not set the bar high for a committed relationship, nor the reality of parenting. Liam (Alex Roe), the lead male character, left his beloved fianc\u00e9 Josie (Jessica Rothe), at the altar to seek fame and fortune as a country singer. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-483 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ForeverMG.c-e1516408491629.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"150\" \/>His success as a musician is colored with drug and alcohol abuse. After a decade on the road, a funeral in the quaint hometown of the country star brings him back in time to a life he led and seemed to love. The ease with which the lead actors fall back into rhythm with each other appears far-fetched, maximized by Liam learning he has an 8-year-old child he was never told of, Billy (Abby Ryder Fortson), who is by far the star of this film. Her sweetness and snarky delivery of lines mix to deliver a fantastic performance by a child actor.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.traileraddict.com\/content\/extra-thumbs\/241769158-4.jpg\" width=\"201\" height=\"113\" \/>The setting is beautiful, a fictitious city in the south where everyone knows each other. The southern charm is palpable and warm. I was hoping for a solid romantic story about young love. What was delivered is the very element of sap, much like what is broadcast on the Hallmark Channel, complete with a happy ending.<\/p>\n<p>I give this film 3 of 5 stars for the casting of rising stars, charming location and music. This film will appeal to tween and teen audiences, ages 10 to 18. I caution younger viewing due to drug and alcohol use and abuse. It opens in theaters January 19, 2018 so, check it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After being gone for a decade a country star returns home to the love he left behind. KIDS FIRST! Adult Juror, Kimbirly O. comments, \u201cThe setting is beautiful, a fictitious city in the south where everyone knows each other. The southern charm is palpable and warm. I was hoping for a solid romantic story about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-critics-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":488,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions\/488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}