If you are in the mood to ugly cry in the middle of a movie theater, “If I Stay” is the film for you!

“If I Stay” is a romantic drama directed by R.J. Cutler, based off of the bestselling novel written by Gayle Forman. The film, produced by Summit Entertainment and Denis Di Novi, stars Chloë Grace Moretz (Mia Hall) and Jamie Blackley (Adam). In a small town in Oregon, shy cello player, Mia Hall, meets local rock-star, Adam, and over a year and a half, the two fall in a less than perfect state of love. As Adam’s career starts to take off, Mia feels left behind, and decides she is going to audition to attend college at Julliard, over 3000 miles away in New York. But two weeks after her audition, Mia’s plans come to a halt when she gets into a horrific car accident with her family. Now in the hospital in a coma, Mia has an out-of-body experience, allowing her to see the hospital around her, including her friends and family who come to visit.

Moretz and Blackley played the “two teens who are madly in love for the first time” extremely well, so well, that one might believe the two were a couple in real life. The film had its share of emotional scenes, both happy and sad, but the most tear inducing scene came from Stacey Keach, who portrays the small, but pivotal, role of Mia’s grandfather. The scene is simple, but arguably the most influential in how the rest of the story plays out.

The film jumps back and forward between past and present, which was confusing at first, because it never lets you know how much time had passed. In fact, only once did the film indicate that a year and a half had passed since the story began. As well, the film ends in a cliff-hanger, which leaves a lot to the imagination. The film got a 7/10 audience rating, which was fitting, seeing that it, unfortunately, had many predictable moments, that you would expect to see in any romantic drama.

At the end of the film, I, as well as everyone in the theater was wiping tears from my eyes, and I felt the need to tell my family that I loved them. Overall, the film lived up to expectations, and all those involved did a fantastic job at bringing the book to life.