★
A hopeless romantic ambivalent about his future in medical school falls for a hard-luck young woman who doesn't believe in love.
Classification: 12A
Staring into the sun itself and then going blind from overexposure would be a more preferable viewing than watching this horrible pretentious romantic drama that stumbles every step of the way with its atrocious acting, vapid script and laborious pacing that leaves its audience drifting in and out of conciseness. Director Ry Russo-Young seems to be trying to deliver a cross-cultural love story that shows how emotion triumphs over any logic or reasoning but instead delivers a series of serendipitous events involving two insufferable characters who offer no authenticity. Riddled with clichés that harm the films initial strong beginning, the potential drama of the story is swept aside for romantic melodrama and tired conventions.
Despite a strong start focusing its drama on Yara Shahidi's character facing deportation from the United States and the emotional toll it is taking on her and her family, The Sun Is Also A Star takes a hard U-Turn into a story of coincidental romance. Charles Melton as the male lead delivers a cringe-worthy performance as his character of Daniel Bae is a pompous, conceited student looking to pursue a career in art rather than medicine and begins to pursue Shahidi's, Natasha Kingsley. His motivations in the script come from a place of a belief in love and destiny but in reality, the film just makes him seem like a creep who has grown disturbingly obsessed with a girl he has just met. As Natasha's chances of staying in America dwindle as her attempts to meet with an immigration lawyer keep her away from spending her final day with her family, Daniel uses every opportunity to pull her away and try and convince her that they are meant to be together. The courtship is marred by terrible performances, stilted dialogue and awkward chemistry as neither of the leads can create a believable relationship between their characters. Shahidi is impressive outside of her scenes with Melton but the whole affair just leaves audiences bored.
Ry Russo-Young's pacing of the narrative doesn't help as it easy for the audience drift away as the characters seem to be caught in a cycle of debating love and logic with no discernible difference in their dialogue besides how far along Natasha is in her infatuation for Daniel. To stretch out the runtime besides just having the two characters share awkward scenes together, The Sun Is Also A Star has them interact with their respective families which doesn't help with the issues plaguing the film before. Daniel's Korean-American family wishes for him to become a doctor, cementing another stereotype into the film and not giving any character any chance to be a unique creation. Jake Choi as the disappointing older brother somehow gives an even worse performance than his own screen brother as it continues to display the film and Russo-Young's inability to create anything authentic within the film. As the film continues to try and sell its larger themes of love through fortuitous coincidences, it makes any legitimate drama the film could have had seemed pointless as the filmmakers are more focused on hamming up the melodrama for grand sweeping romantic gestures.
The Sun Is Also A Star fails at its core ambition of delivering an endearing love story to enamour audiences. Almost every element of the film is hard to take seriously from the two leads supposedly being high school students to the grand romantic scene between Daniel and Natasha which comes off more ominous than amorous. The use of serendipity within the plotline never has a real payoff and seems to be just shoehorned in for Daniel's arguments of destiny to have more weight in the narrative but remains mostly unnoticed by the main characters or has no real effect on their actions. Which presents a larger issue with The Sun Is Also A Star in that realistic consequences are for the most part not considered with Daniel and Natasha's journey. Despite the ticking clock of Natasha's situation with her family and her internal conflict with spending time with Daniel, large swaths of their adventure in New York doesn't contain any urgency or importance. Russo-Young is unable to create any tangible tension to keep the pacing of the film moving forward so that when reality rears its head back into the third act, it is even more disjointing and undercuts the ramifications for the characters.
Unbearably awkward at times, The Sun Is Also A Star stumbles out of the gate and continues to do so until its credits roll. Without rock-solid chemistry between the two romantic leads, the faults within the story are far more noticeable and doesn't offer the audience any chance to be caught up in an emotional journey. It can feel almost immature in how some of the subject matter is handled with cultural stereotypes informing the story and the lack of believability in Daniel and later Natasha's actions. Love stories defying the odds in cinema is always a certifiable crowd pleaser but there is no foundation for the Sun Is Also A Star to create a connection with its audience with all of its alienating factors preventing any genuine emotion to be felt.
Director: #RyRussoYoung
Release Date: August 9th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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