The TV Addict 

In attempting to write my review of TWILIGHT there were many false-starts, misguided detours, and meandering drafts. I was constantly reworking it, fumbling for what I wanted to say, but never fully satisfied with the results. It was frustrating, and I wasn’t entirely sure why I was having such a hard time with it.

It wasn’t until I discussed my struggle with my colleague (who also reviews films and has a blog of his own) that he pointed out the struggle wasn’t in the writing of the review, but rather in me needing to realize what my actual opinion of the film is. He noted that it sounded like I wanted to like TWILIGHT, but just couldn’t get myself to do so, and that internal battle was manifesting itself in the writing. He was right. Something went “click” in my head, and – well – here we are.

It’s not that there’s nothing to like in TWILIGHT. Like the novel, when it puts aside some of its teenage/forbidden love angst and settles on the fundamental sweetness, awkwardness, and euphoria of two teenagers falling in love, it creates (or perhaps stumbles upon) moments that are enjoyable and real. Further, when the actual plot kick starts with the vampire baseball game and the James storyline, the film becomes surprisingly engrossing – especially when capped with an exciting fight between James and Edward (albeit, a too short one). The cast largely does a solid job (even if Billy Burke nearly steals the show), and as adaptations go, considering the movie reduces 500 pages of a novel to two hours, it does a good job of maintaining the spirit of the book.

The problem is for all the good it does, there’s just too much that doesn’t work in TWILIGHT. The bad overshadows the good in my mind, most of all because its failures are more consistently present throughout the film than its successes. The special effects seem lifted straight out of a low-budget Sci-Fi channel original movie or that “The Flash” TV show from the 90s. There’s an intrusive, redundant Bella voice over throughout the film. Some of the more enjoyable characters from the novel get short shrifted, most notably Bella’s friends and most of the Cullen clan. Scenes with huge significance in the novel are utterly bungled here, such as when Edward steps into the sunlight (he doesn’t look beautiful so much as a recent visitor of a Pride parade), or when Edward and Bella talk openly about their situation for the first time (it comes off like a play written/directed/staged by pretentious, self-important high schoolers).

The most persistent, overwhelming problem the film has though is that there is a pervasive presence of camp through the movie. When as an audience member you are unsure what is meant to be intentionally funny and what isn’t, a director has led you into the nebulous region in which camp movies are born. Believe me, during my viewing there was a lot of laughing where I’m pretty sure there wasn’t mean to be any. It’s not entirely surprising, as it’s an obvious consequence of faithfully adapting the excessive and melodramatic doom-and-gloom seriousness of the teenage romance in the novel. Lines that barely work on paper (“You’re like my heroin,” “the lion falls for the lamb,” “I watch you sleep”), work even less when said aloud in the middle of a multi-million dollar Hollywood production screened for everyone to hear in a darkened auditorium.

As someone who wasn’t a big fan of the novels to begin with (see here), I was surprised to stumble upon the root of my problem originally writing this review. Much to my shock, I was disappointed. Despite my low expectations, I must have actually been really looking forward to seeing TWILIGHT. That’s why my earlier attempts at this review failed. Because of my disappointment, I was arguing the good in the film cancelled out the bad, when that just isn’t the case. You can’t argue an (subjectively) inarguable point.

If a casual, critical fan like myself was let down, I can only imagine how some of the hardcore fans felt, finding themselves laughing out loud at (presumably) some of their favorite lines and moments.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 REELs