When I first received Love Me, I thought it was going to be just another angsty teen drama. (Something along the lines of Dawson’s Creek.) That notion was quickly disabused, however, when a young girl is stalked and attacked in the opening scene. From there, the film jumps ahead three months, with the town still reeling from her disappearance. While discussing how eerie the case is with her friends, Sylvia Potter (Lindsay Shaw, TV’s Pretty Little Liars) quite literally bumps into rich pretty boy Lucas Green (Jamie Johnston, TV’s Degrassi: The Next Generation) and falls for him instantly.
Fortunately for Sylvia, the feeling is mutual and, despite her friend’s many protests, Sylvia begins dating Lucas. As their relationship deepens, Sylvia discovers some unsettling things about Lucas, including the fact that he was dating the missing girl at the time of her disappearance and police consider him the prime suspect. As the pressure mounts and new evidence comes to light, Sylvia must decide what — and, more importantly, who — she believes.
Love Me is a pretty decent little thriller. The young cast is really outstanding, especially Shaw. Sylvia could have easily been a stereotypical love-struck girl, but Shaw plays her with a quiet strength that makes her character even more endearing. Johnston’s Lucas starts out a little broody, but quickly becomes someone you want to believe is innocent. Jean-Luc Bilodeau (TV’s Kyle XY) also turns in a solid performance as Harry, Sylvia’s best friend and the third part of the love triangle.
The one thing I really disliked about this movie was the way they kept trying so hard to make me think Lucas was the bad guy. The police investigation would’ve been enough, but to have every other person in the movie trample all over Lucas’ character and make him have a violent outburst at exactly the wrong moment was overdoing it. In the words of Shakespeare, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”
What can I say? Subtlety is a lost art.
Video
Love Me is presented with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The 1080p image is achieved with an AVC MPEG-4 codec at an average of 20 mbps. The movie looks great, with both day and night scenes looking crisp and clear. The only exception comes during a go-kart sequence, where the shots of Lucas and Sylvia’s faces look like something from a personal home video. I do like how the flashback scenes were a bit muted to show contrast. The coolest thing for me was being able to see all the details in Harry’s comic book art and Sylvia dioramas. It’s little things like this that show how much the people making this movie cared.
Audio
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track utterly fails the dialogue. It seemed as if everyone was saying their lines under their breath or at a whisper. I had to watch the entire film with the subtitles on, and I HATE subtitles. Everything else sounded just fine, but somehow, the dialogue was lost. The one saving grace was the music, including original songs by Mike Shields. The music always sounded really great and was consistently appropriate for whatever scene it was used in, firmly setting the mood.
Special Features
Love Me: Behind The Scenes (7:14): The cast gives some insight into their characters’ motivations, backgrounds, and how each actor related to the person they were playing. A funny moment occurs when they try to define exactly what type of movie Love Me is.
Love Me: Stories From The Set (6:10): Contains bloopers from the film and the “Behind The Scenes” interviews, with the cast sharing funny stories from filming, including Johnston’s inability to drive Lucas’ Porsche and Shaw ruining takes with her fart machine.
Final Thoughts
While the film’s ending isn’t exactly a huge shocker, Love Me is a pretty good way to kill 90 minutes. Rent this movie, grab a bowl of popcorn, and have yourself an enjoyable movie night at home.
