"If I Stay" starring Chloe Grace Moretz received a slew of mixed reviews from critics that claimed it was "clunky and uninspired."
In the film, the 17-year-old former child star portrayed the role of a cellist who faces a life or death decision, according to the LA Times.
Jon Frosch of The Hollywood Reporter slammed the film for its "lame dialogue, heartstring-yanking music and tired visual approach."
Frosch also noted that the filmmakers "are clearly playing to a target audience - the same folks who lined up earlier this summer for the vastly superior The Fault in Our Stars - though they do so with dismayingly little effort to freshen up the formula."
Justin Chang of Variety noted that the movie "hovers in a weird limbo between sensitivity and clumsiness." Chang adds that, "while many in the audience may well find themselves getting misty-eyed as the screen fades to white and softly crooned rock tunes flood the soundtrack, the overall execution is so pedestrian that it's possible to feel more moved by the filmmakers' good intentions than by the actual emotional content onscreen."
Meanwhile, Moretz herself opened up about the film and obviously had nothing but good words for it, News OK reported.
"It's just a basic story about love of life and family, and I think no matter how old you are, you can have a love of life and family."
The young actress also clarified that the film is not necessarily focused on first love alone, rather, it's an all-encompassing type of story.
"It's not just about your first love. That's a very small plot point in the scheme of this gigantic, all-encompassing kind of story," she said.
"If I Stay" screenwriter Shauna Cross and director R.J. Cutler also have nothing but nice words for Moretz.
"Everything I saw, from the drafts of the scripts to what I saw on set, to what I saw when I saw the first cut, to the final cut, to the music, to the way Cutler cast it, everything along the way was like one more puzzle piece put in play, and now there's the final product, and I couldn't be happier," Cross said.
