The Longest Ride

The Longest Ride (2015) tells two love stories side by side and joins them with a crash. Sophia studies art history and has an internship waiting at a New York gallery after graduation. Luke is a professional bull rider who came back after a serious injury, and his doctor has told him another blow will cause permanent damage. Driving back from a date they see a burning car. They pull an old man out; his name is Ira and there is a box of letters with him. At the hospital Sophia reads them to him. They were written to his wife Ruth and go back sixty years: the Second World War, a wound, not being able to have children, and a marriage. The two stories run in parallel and ask the same question: should one person change their life for another. It is adapted from Nicholas Sparks's novel. The past sections are the better half; Ira and Ruth are written more fully than the present day couple. The bull riding was shot at real events with professional riders; Scott Eastwood trained but did not ride. Alan Alda plays the older Ira. The resolution in the final section comes through an auction and is far too easy; it is the most criticised thing in the film. It was shot in North Carolina. It runs 128 minutes. Good for: romantic drama, Sparks adaptations, and period stories. Less good for: it is long, the two strands are unequal, and the ending is forced.