Entertainment

Mandy Moore Honors 'A Walk To Remember'

by Amy Roberts
Warner Bros.

There are some movies that you simply don't get over the emotional impact of. And, 15 years after A Walk To Remember was released, I can say with the utmost confidence that it still remains an emotional powerhouse of a movie. One that still has the capacity to reduce an entire generation of women to feeling wistful and romantic, yet heartbroken and painfully sad, at just the simplest suggestion of the movie. Need proof? Mandy Moore celebrated A Walk To Remember on Instagram with a post in honor of the movie's 15th anniversary, and it immediately reduced me to a swooning, heart aching mess. And, in all likelihood, it'll do the same to you.

The post, which featured an image of Jamie and Landon (played by Moore, and perennial dreamboat Shane West) enjoying a happy, warm embrace together is a fantastic reminder of the continued legacy of the movie. It's 15 years later, and, to a specific generation of women, A Walk To Remember still holds up as a cherished film of their youth. One that both won and broke their hearts simultaneously, likely giving many of us our first experience of absolutely sobbing in front of our besties at a sleepover. Which is, frankly, a bond that can never be broken.

Moore's post, which featured the caption, "In honor of the 15th anniversary of A Walk To Remember, let's take a walk down memory lane..." before encouraging fans to reply with questions or shout-outs regarding their favorite scenes, evokes a collective nostalgia for the movie that's completely warranted.

Those of us who spent any part of our teenage years loving A Walk To Remember will no doubt also understand the sort of reaction the movie provoked from fellow fans. There was an entire year at my high school, for instance, in which all anyone had to do was recall the title of the movie to bring an entire class to a standstill.

A collective swoon could be heard, and people would compare stories of how much they cried at specific scenes, moments and lines of dialogue. The cutest boys in school would instantly be the ones who could proudly admit that they bawled at A Walk To Remember. What dreamboats. They were keepers.

And at some sleepovers and group hangouts, A Walk To Remember became the movie of choice for testing the emotional resilience of fellow friends. There were those who would be reduced to a tearful puddle during the wedding vows, surrounded by wet, shredded tissues like a spent confetti. And there were those who could watch Landon laying beside Jamie's sick, hospitalized body without shedding even a single tear, who could only be marveled at. Who were these mysterious, tough women?

For Moore, A Walk To Remember marked the start of her transition from pop singer to actor. Something that has led to currently star in the TV drama, This Is Us (where, yeah — she's still kind of making us cry). But for the rest of us who were simply fans of A Walk To Remember, the movie marked a specific moment in time in which our emotions were potent, our hearts were huge and we all bonded, mostly in tears, over the tragic love story of Jamie and Landon.