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“If I Stay,” released this summer, is an adaptation of a hit young adult novel written by Gayle Forman.

Chloe Grace Mortez stars as Mia Hall, a shy 17 year old cello prodigy who dreams of attending Julliard.

Jamie Blackley plays her slightly older musician boy- friend Adam.

Mia is torn between following her dreams at Julliard or being with the love of her life, Adam. But, what should have been a carefree family drive changes everything, and now Mia’s life hangs in the balance.

Caught between life and death, Mia has only one decision left.

Mia’s parents, played by Mireille Enos and Joshua Leonard, are constantly reminding their kids just how ‘cool’ they used to be and make constant references to Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry.

They never seem to realize that if they really were cool, they wouldn’t have to keep repeating it.

The scenes with Mia and her best friend Kim were meant to be quirky but come across unnatural and forced.

Then there are the scenes between Mia and Adam. The writer tried to make every line significant, to make us gush at how adorable and “in love” they are. Instead, it just made me feel the intense desire to leave the theatre.

After school gets called off for a snow day, the family goes for a scenic car ride.

They endure a tragic accident, and Mia wakes up amid the wreckage, standing over the injured bodies of her family members and herself.

At the hospital, Mia reflects on her life and whether she wants to keep living. One of the least convincing ER nurses in movie history tells her that this choice is up to her. From there, the movie becomes a string of flashbacks to the key moments in Mia’s life.

Following “The Fault In Our Stars,” this is just another movie about a young girl clinging to life.

The film’s makers are clearly targeting the same audience, though they do so with little effort to freshen up the formula.

Though the novel was well received, the movie fell short at the box office. This movie is 106 minutes of cheesy lines that may have worked on page, but, on the big screen, they land with a thud.

“If I Stay” fails to feel like real life and instead focuses on a large number of clichés.

This may not be enough of a drawback to prevent teens from seeing this movie, but they certainly could do better. This movie is not worth your time or money.

I would give this movie 2 out of 5 stars because it didn’t seem realistic, the characters were hard to relate to and it was overly cheesy.

Katie Haines is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].