Remember Me (film)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Remember Me is a 2010 drama film starring Robert Pattinson, Pierce Brosnan and Emilie de Ravin. It follows the lives of two families in New York city. Tyler (Pattinson) is a typical screw up young college student who only seems to care about his little sister Caroline as his home life is fairly screwed up since his parents are divorced and the father (Brosnan) has remained distant ever since the eldest brother killed himself. Tyler meets Allie (De Ravin) who has issues of her own, her mother being murdered on the subway in front of her when she was eleven and her father being an overprotective fireman.

The film is mostly remembered for its controversial ending which some found offensive but many people have spoken up in favor of it, saying it was handled in a very classy way. And to those who feel it was tacked on, the event itself actually inspired the film.

Tropes used in Remember Me (film) include:
  • All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game": Yes this is the movie that has 9/11 as a twist ending. What's the actual plot though?
  • Berserk Button: Allie's father Neil seems like a sensible enough man but don't you dare mention his wife. And in Tyler's case, don't ever harm Caroline.
  • Book Ends: The film opens and ends with Allie in the subway.
  • Brick Joke: Aidan brags about having slept with a girl of every ethnicity. Allie asks about an eskimo and he responds that there is a certain girl who works at the library. The focus then switches to Tyler arriving home to find Allie's father waiting for him. After that big scene is over, Allie arrives home saying she'd just been at the library speaking with the girl in question.
  • Buffy-Speak: Tyler and Allie decide that Aidan is actually addicted to being an asshole and dub him an "assaholic".
  • Call Back: At the very end of the film Allie rides on the subway for the first time since her mother's murder, to show she's moving on.
  • Cerebus Callback: Inverted. Early on in the movie Tyler is bailed out of jail by his father in a sombre scene. The second time it happens, much later in the story, it's a humorous scene with Charles and Tyler laughing about it.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The reveal of 9/11 is foreshadowed by a shot of the Twin Towers at the beginning and Tyler goes to see American Pie 2 which was of course released in the summer of 2001. Not to mention that the start of the movie takes place in 1991 and then it skips ten years.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: The girls in Caroline's class are seen giggling unkindly at her in one scene and don't appear again until Caroline has to go to a birthday party, where the incident prompts the entire family to pull together.
  • Child Prodigy: Caroline. She's quite a talented artist and is implied to get good grades at school.
  • Cool Loser: Caroline.
  • Daddy Didn't Show: Charles misses Caroline's art show because he's at a business meeting.
  • Everyone Loves Blondes: Allie. She's funny, she's cute, she's perky and she loves life.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: In the epilogue we see Caroline's hair grown back symbolising her and Charles bonding after Tyler's death while Allie's hair is also longer.
  • Fake American: British Robert Pattinson, Irish Pierse Brosnan and Australian Emilie De Ravin all playing New Yorkers.
  • Fan Service: Allie certainly gets plenty of scenes showing off her lovely legs.
  • Foreshadowing: A shadow of a bird in the shape of a plane can be seen on Tyler's back during a love scene.
  • Gilligan Cut: Allie says she'll stay at the party for a drink or two. Cut to her throwing up in the toilet and passing out.
  • Girl Posse: Eleven-year-old versions of them.
  • Humiliation Conga: The girls who bully Caroline aren't punished because the incident didn't happen on school property. So Tyler steps in. Half of it happens off-screen but the girls who bullied Caroline get their just desserts from Tyler and Charles. Tyler grabs one of the girl's desks off the floor, flings it at the wall and then throws it back in front of her before throwing a fire extinguisher through the classroom door. It's then revealed that Charles has pulled some strings so that the school can't press charges against Tyler or else he'll do the same for what happened to Caroline. And he's also threatened to sue all of the girls' parents unless they all immediately transfer to other schools.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Charles and Tyler. Guess it runs in the family. Aidan could also count.
  • Kick the Dog: Caroline, with her hair cut off, has to be brought into school by Tyler because she's so shaken. One of the other girls sarcastically remarks "I like your hair".
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Allie is a more realistic version of the trope, while displaying a few of the characteristics such as eating desert at the start of a meal just in case she dies before she gets to have it, she has issues of her own with her father. And in a variation of the typical plot, Tyler actually seeks her out first.
  • Missing Mom: Allie's mother is murdered by muggers at the start of the film. Caroline's mother doesn't really seem to be that involved in her daughter's life.
  • Papa Wolf: Little girls, you should not have been mean to Caroline.
  • Posthumous Narrator: Tyler, by way of a Twist Ending.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Tyler and Aidan.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The family have all got their lives sorted out and then Tyler is suddenly killed in the 9/11 attacks. Subverted then when we see that the characters eventually do move on from his death.
  • Traumatic Haircut: Caroline goes to a slumber party with girls from school and the next time we see her a huge chunk of her hair has been cut off.
  • Viewers Are Geniuses: A viewer can easily see the twist coming by just simply doing the math in the time skip.
  • Wham! Line: The teacher casually writing the date on the blackboard: September 11th, 2001.
  • Who Wears Short Shorts?: Allie. Justified though since summers get very hot in New York.
  • Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Neil strikes Allie in a moment of rage when she taunts him about her mother.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Even though the little girls traumatized Caroline, Tyler doesn't physically hit them -- he just settles for scaring them shitless instead.