Based on the bestselling novel by master storyteller Nicholas Sparks, THE LONGEST RIDE centers on the star-crossed love affair between Luke, a former champion bull rider looking to make a comeback, and Sophia, a college student who is about to embark upon her dream job in New York City’s art world. As conflicting paths and ideals test their relationship, Sophia and Luke make an unexpected and fateful connection with Ira, whose memories of his own decades-long romance with his beloved wife deeply inspire the young couple. Spanning generations and two intertwining love stories.
THE LONGEST RIDE explores the challenges and infinite rewards of enduring love. Ninety-one-year-old Ira Levinson is in trouble. Struggling to stay conscious after a car crash, an image of his adored – and long dead – wife Ruth appears. Urging him to hang on, she lovingly recounts the joys and sorrows of their life together: how they met, the dark days of World War II and it’s unrelenting effects on their families.
The Longest Ride has received negative reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 31%, based on 104 reviews, with an average rating of 4.3/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, “The Longest Ride is less manipulative than the average Nicholas Sparks film, but it’s still saccharine and hopelessly contrived — not that it’ll matter to the target audience.” On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 33 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating “generally unfavorable reviews”. It earned an average grade of “A” in CinemaScore poll on an A+ to F scale, marking the first Sparks feature adaptation to earn an A in 11 years since The Notebook (2004).
In April 2014, Fox 2000 Pictures set a film adaptation to be released on April 10, 2015, with George Tillman Jr. in final talks to direct, Craig Bolotin adapting the screenplay, and Britt Robertson as Sophia Danko, Oona Chaplin as Ruth, Scott Eastwood as Luke Collins, Jack Huston as Young Ira, and Alan Alda as old Ira.
Watch the longest ride on HBO Saturday night premiere, this Saturday 19th, December 2015. Here is a sneak peek.
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