Respond to these rapid questions in our The Longest Ride quiz and we will tell you which The Longest Ride character you are. Play it now.
I believe that after squirming my way through the movie “The Longest Ride,” which has a title that is all too accurate, I have finally cracked the code on what makes these increasingly ridiculous movies based on Nicholas Sparks novels work.
They have the potential to be categorized as romantic dramas. But don’t let yourself be misled. In point of fact, these stories are science fiction adventures that take place in a parallel universe. It’s a place — let’s call it Sparks-landia — where young couples will frequently run into an older couple whose situation in some way reflects and affects their own. The location where the woo will be pitched while simultaneously being soaked by a water source. Beatitudes will be proclaimed at regular intervals (“Love requires sacrifice…always,” is the lesson here), and coincidental occurrences involving letters and deceased spouses will regularly take place. This is because simple logic does not apply in this context. Where the eventual twists in the story are frequently foreshadowed from the moment the opening credits begin, and where relationship obstacles that could be easily overcome are instead portrayed as insurmountable obstacles on the level of the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
Have you ever seen or heard of “Star Wars”? “Star-Crossed Wars” is a potential title for any movies adapted from Nicholas Sparks’ books.
The tenth installment in the series, “Ride,” which clocks in at over two hours and is numbered 10 in the series, offers at least a few intriguing new variations on the typical Sparks formula of fairly unremarkable people falling in love against the backdrop of verdantly green landscapes, which are typically situated along the coast of North Carolina. For example, the plot of this film may be one of the very few in the annals of cinematic storytelling that prominently features both bull riding and an appreciation of art.
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this The Longest Ride quiz.
You might be wondering, “How are they connected to one another?” Not with a lasso that is studded with jewels. Instead, college sorority sister and art history major Sophia (Britt Robertson, who also stars in the summer tentpole “Tomorrowland”) and cowboy Luke (Scott Eastwood) meet cute at a rodeo event when he drops his hat and she picks it up, and they fall in love with one another almost immediately.
After suffering a significant injury in a fall while competing atop a snorting demon of a beast named Rango, which was, without a doubt, a breakout performance, the former bull-riding champion is on the comeback trail, as we are told time and again. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve watched a bull buck and rear up in a circle while snot slowly shoots out of its nose. If you haven’t seen this, you haven’t seen anything. In the meantime, this New Jersey native will be moving to the Big Apple in a little over a month to begin an internship at a gallery there. He is a whole lot country—heck, on their first date he even brought her a bouquet of flowers from the grocery store and served her barbecue straight out of the bag al fresco—and she is a whole lot of anything but country, but he is.
The Longest Ride Quiz
But given that Luke must be in the company of bulls in order to make a living, and given that such livestock is relatively uncommon in Manhattan, other than on Wall Street, it does not appear that he and Sophia have much of a future together. Then, however, fate steps in, which is a factor that is never more capricious than when it manifests itself in a Nicholas Sparks movie. A car that has skidded off the road is encountered by the trio as they travel back to Sparks in Luke’s red Ford pickup truck (product placement, including that of Apple and Budweiser, is prevalent throughout Sparks-landia). They take the elderly man inside as well as a basket full of old letters with them when they go to the hospital.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this The Longest Ride quiz.
It turns out that he is Ira Levinson, a widower who has his own story of the heart to share with them, which will ultimately provide the key to their futures. Alan Alda plays the role of a crotchety geezer type with a twinkle in his eye as best he can, despite having breathing tubes in his nose. Ira’s Jewish heritage and that of his soon-to-be-wife Ruth, a cultured Austrian World War II refugee making a new life in America, are both highlighted in flashbacks that introduce diversity to Sparks-landia. These flashbacks take place in the form of scenes from the past. Sophia makes frequent trips to Ira in his hospital bed, and while she is there, she and Ira take turns reading Ruth his letters out loud. The reasons why he felt compelled to describe events that had just taken place and why he felt compelled to send these missives to someone who he saw on a daily basis are not explained, other than the fact that we are, in fact, in Sparks-landia.
Ira (played in these remembrances by Jack Huston, grandson of legendary director John, who looks nothing like Alda—another Sparks tradition) and Ruth (Oona Chaplin, granddaughter of silver-screen icon Charlie) eventually marry, despite the fact that his call to military duty overseas interrupts their happiness. Because of the wound he received on the battlefield, Ira is unable to provide Ruth with the large family she has always imagined. As a form of recompense, he decorates their house with contemporary works of art created by renowned artists who study at Black Mountain College, which is located in the neighborhood.
About the quiz
When there is no more wall space available, Huston and, especially, the rather contagious Chaplin are a more interesting pairing to watch than Robertson and Eastwood. This is despite the fact that their circumstances take an overly dramatic turn once there is no more wall space. Instead, the director George Tillman Jr. (who directed “Soul Food” and “Men of Honor,” and who obviously studied the Sparks movie handbook) counts on his male star’s genes—he is the spitting blue-eyed image of his daddy, who happens to be named Clint—and drop-dead-gorgeous looks to liven up the current-day passages. He is the director of “Soul Food” and “Men of Honor,” who obviously studied the Sparks movie In a bed scene, while Robertson displays a breast appropriate for a PG-13 rating, Eastwood’s right nipple is the focus of the camera’s attention.
Also, you must try to play this The Longest Ride quiz.
Nevertheless, the only thing that all of this macho beefcake objectifying accomplished was to make me yearn to watch reruns of “Rawhide” and admire the real thing, rather than the objectification of macho beefcakes.
For more personality quizzes check this: Krampus Quiz.
