Star-Crossed Lovers. A terminal illness. A life-changing summer. Unopened letters. Each of these items is an essential ingredient in the melodramatic soup that is the Nicholas Sparks novel. We’ve seen it in his popular novels and the resulting film adaptations of “A Walk to Remember”, “The Notebook”, and the recent film “Dear John”. Sparks’ latest endeavor, “The Last Song” contains each of these seemingly ho-hum ingredients, but the target audience can still find the ending product digestible.

The story is familiar enough. Rebellious and distant Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) and her younger brother Jonah (Bobby Coleman) are sent to spend the summer at their estranged father’s (Greg Kinnear) beach house. He had divorced their mother (Kelly Preston) years ago, sparking Ronnie’s mopey behavior. Ronnie, as the typical troubled teen, has had problems with the law and has abandoned her passion for the piano out of anger for her father’s departure. Enter local boy Will (Liam Hemsworth) and some struggling sea turtle eggs to “change” Ronnie and motivate her to turn her life around.

I’m not going to give away the entire plot, but the rest of the movie involves Will’s disapproving, wealthy parents (think “The Notebook”), a wayward friend and her emotionally abusive boyfriend, a mysteriously burnt church, and a terminal illness. Oh, and more sea turtles.

Cyrus’s transition from cutesty “Hannah Montana” to a dramatic “actress” is rocky to say the least. She simply is not convincing as Ronnie, who continually pouts her lips, slouches, and reads Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”. It’s difficult to picture a sparkly Disney starlet as a shoplifting, cursing high-school graduate. As A.O. Scott wrote in his “New York Times” review, Hemsworth is a “star graduate of the Taylor Lautner Academy of Shirtless Emoting”. Hemsworth simply adds nothing to the supposedly profound struggles his character experienced. Kinnear’s sensitivity as Ronnie’s father is far more poignant and convincing, but even his acting chops could not counter the film’s melodramatic, bloated tone.

I have to admit, my assessment thus far is harsh. However, I only came to these conclusions after I viewed the film. While watching, my opinion was completely different. I bought it all. I was completely and utterly involved with the story. When Ronnie suffered, I suffered. When Ronnie cried, I (embarrassingly) cried. In fact, I sobbed. Maybe it was the scenic sunsets or those cute sea turtles struggling for survival.

Sparks (and Cyrus) knew completely what type of audience they were attempting to reach: the female youth. Cyrus’s fans tend to carry over from her “Hannah Montana” fame and Sparks’ work usually gains the attention from female audience attracted to the love stories. The fact is, women relate to Ronnie’s struggles to find herself (as cheesy as that sounds). Women recognize the strong bonds within Ronnie’s family and her profound relationship with her father. The poor acting, unrealistic plot, and cheesy ending no longer matter. It’s the relatable themes that win this audience over.

I stand on the bridge between both worlds. Some may call be a hypocrite for criticizing the movie I was so thoroughly engaged in during the viewing process. However, I choose to believe that I’m able to recognize the film’s many faults while still being a major part of the intended audience. “The Last Song” has a pitch-perfect tone in that regard.