A badly acted telemovie at best, this sequel to 2019’s teen girl drama romance After is significantly worse than the original.
English prat Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) has had a falling out with Tessa Young (Josephine Langford) and they have broken up.
She lands a job as an intern at a publishing house and quickly impresses with her diligence.
Desperate to make good, Hardin reaches out to Tessa and before long they are hot and heavy again, after Tessa ties one on at a nightclub while on a work trip and Hardin knocks on her hotel room door.
In reality though, the morning after the night before he still has to win back her trust.
That won’t be easy because Hardin is a regular screw up.
Hardin’s mum Trish (Louise Lombard) visiting from England unexpectedly provides the perfect opportunity.
And all is good again until it isn’t.
Consider, this is a guy who has more than his fair share of issues.
He is all about excess and addiction.
He drinks too much, has treated women as mere notches on his belt and has had nightmares since the age of eight about how his estranged father treated his mother.
And he broods – boy, does he brood!
Hardly what you would consider a prize catch.
One of a number of subplots involves a co-worker, Trevor (Dylan Sprouse), showing more than a passing interest in Tessa.
Tessa’s father Ken (Rob Estes) is woven into the storyline and the publisher’s reliable assistant Kimberly (Candice King) is also in an intimate relationship with him.
I spent much of the movie trying to recall what happened first time around because so much of After The Collision was based on that.
Recent familiarity with the initial instalment would undoubtedly have aided the cause.
After The Collision comes across as a decidedly below par soap opera.
Much of the time the angst appears contrived. Believability is sorely lacking, as is class. As such, it presents as low rent material.
Put simply, the couple falls out, makes up, has sex and then repeats the cycle.
I am well and truly over the bad boy brooding, which has become decidedly tiresome.
In fact, most of the characters don’t even have the depth of a rice cooker. They are transparent and predictable.
None of the original writers nor the director have returned for this follow up and their replacements, including the writer of the novel upon which the movie is based – Anna Todd, who makes her screenwriter debut – don’t measure up.
Even its target audience should think the better of attending this dreary sequel.
The scary part is there are still three further books in the series, which may yet be turned into films.
Rated M, After the Collision scores a 3 out of 10.