Another New Moon Review

A review came in from Tracey R. in a comment this morning and I feel compelled to post it as a blog entry:

OK, I've been thinking about this movie all day and have to say that I WISH I was happier with the Bella/Edward relationship onscreen. Now, I know that maybe it's just b/c it's New Moon, which is so NOT about their relationship, really--but honest to god, in every scene they have together, both before and after Edward leaves, Bella looks MISERABLE. Just plain miserable, as though (as I've said before) she smells something bad. It's really evident at the beginning at school, where she's with Edward in the parking lot looking all morose as usual, and then Jacob walks up and she VISIBLY brightens and is all "yo Jake wassup?" How in the heck is that supposed to make me, the audience member, feel at ALL as though Edward is the love of her life and the person who without whom she is souless?????? And worse yet, how is it supposed to get me invested in this relationship so that when Edward leaves, I believe that it's really as though someone has died to her??? I'll tell you what this movie needed--they needed to do the Romeo and Juliet movie scene the way it was written in the book, with B/E hanging out at home, sprawled out on the couch watching the movie, relaxed and just talking. (Oh, note to KStew? BELLA CRIES DURING THE MOVIE.) I need to SEE them having a normal couple moment--nothing earth-shattering, nothing life-threatening, just a normal moment with JUST THE TWO OF THEM, that's probably pretty close to moments they've had all during the summer ("the best summer of my life"), where they're just in love and enjoying each other's company and HAPPY. That gives the breakup scene so much more impact. POINT BEING: At the end of the day, I should have been in tears at that scene in the woods where Edward leaves. TEARS. And I wasn't. Either time. And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, makes me sad. And makes me like the movie a little less the day after...

Tracey has seen the movie twice and was right last night when she said I was going easy on Kristen Stewart. I was. I don't know why. I suppose I don't want to sound like one of these asshole critics who has nothing good to say. Or maybe I'm afraid - by some freak of nature -  she'll stumble on my blog and get her feelings hurt - and she's only 19 - and I'd feel bad. I don't know. But I just said the following to Tracey:  "It's not that she's not smiling enough - that's not the problem. The problem is that she's not emoting any type of positive feeling for Edward Cullen."  Bottom line... the whole time I watched the movie, I felt like I was watching Kristen Stewart, not Bella Swan. And she should not shoulder the blame... Catherine Hardwicke and Chris Weitz have a hand in this, as well. It goes back to my comments about letting the actors have a little too much control. Bella Swan has a great sense of humor.. and she's blindly in love with Edward Cullen. Did you get that impression from this movie? Neither did I.