A Walk to Remember, the schmaltzy Nicholas Sparks adaptation starring Mandy Moore and her IRL crush Shane West as star-crossed high-school lovers, is one of the most beloved movies from the 2000s. Given the resurgence of early-aughts culture, the movie has been experiencing a bit of a social-media renaissance. (For the record, should a modern-day remake ever be made, Moore wants fellow pop icon Olivia Rodrigo cast.)
One Instagram user, comedian Rob Anderson, is delighting his followers with his hilarious reaction video to the 2002 romance:
Anderson has a whole video series where he reacts to all sorts of ’90s and ’00s curios, including old episodes of The WB drama 7th Heaven, Julia Roberts rom-coms like Runaway Bride, and the extensive Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movie franchise. Most of the comedian’s clips delve into how ludicrous or downright silly these throwback titles seem looking back, and his takedown of A Walk to Remember is no exception.
The content creator sums up the premise for his 830,000 followers: Bad boy Landon Carter (played by Shane West) is forced to star in the school musical as punishment for hazing another student. Good-girl Jamie Sullivan (Moore)—who is “dying on the DL” from leukemia—is the other lead in the show, and opposites very much start attracting. As he explains:
They become friends through rehearsals. The night of the play, Jamie’s wearing this cloak and she removes it and Landon’s like, ‘Wait, you’re hot?’ So he falls in love with her because she’s washed her hair. Then Jamie sings the greatest pop ballad ever. Also, her character wrote this song, and every other song in the musical. She is quite a talented dying girl.
Anderson’s good-natured quips about the romantic movie caught the attention of one of the movie’s main actors: Shane West himself, who took to the comments to praise the “hysterical” video:
Been getting this sent to me a lot today…this is hysterical ???? Love it, had me rolling! ????????
Anderson continued to poke fun at the movie’s melodramatic moments, which include teenage Landon and Jamie getting married before she can succumb to her illness. Rob jokes of their wedding:
A couple months before she dies, they get married by her dad, who think he’s Atticus Finch. And all of the bullies are there. Like, where are your bullies at your wedding?!
Mandy Moore hasn’t yet put in her two cents about Anderon’s rip-roaring review, but the actress-singer seemingly has nothing but fond memories of filming the teen drama and has said that its resurgence in popularity has “flattered” her. She recently told USA Today:
Maybe it’s just the universal themes and stories of a good girl reforming a bad boy. I’m flattered that anybody would still find it relevant and love it in the way that we loved it all those years ago. It means a lot.
If, like Rob Anderson, you haven’t rewatched A Walk to Remember in the two decades since it was first released, you can revisit the movie in all of its lovely, ridiculous schmaltziness with a Netflix subscription.