Oh boy. The Map That Leads to You is a sappy romantic drama with a muddled message, questionable morals and two of the most unlikeable protagonists. The film follows Heather (Madelyn Cline) on her European adventure where she meets Jack (KJ Apa) and an unexpected romance flourishes.
When going into this Prime Video original, I expected nothing more than your cookie-cutter romance. That’s not saying I expected it to stumble and fall, but I thought it would be a fun, mindless ride with a good deal of heart. Unfortunately the only one of those elements it captured is “mindless”. The entire narrative falls apart from the get-go when its unlikeable protagonists fail to display any semblance of chemistry. It’s a classic case of bringing together two YA stars without any consideration of chemistry and just hoping their inclusion brings the views. Individually, their performances are fine – I don’t think the acting is subpar by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just that their pairing seems forced and the characters themselves make plenty of stupid, unforgivable life decisions. The reason these two like each other is because the script says so – nothing about their interactions shows any romantic engagement.
This is where things get a little complicated – the stupid life decisions mentioned above tie into the morally questionable message the movie is trying to send. To be fair, I can see that it has earnest intentions with what it’s trying to say about our protagonist’s journey, but it doesn’t translate to reality. In a purely fantasy-based world where the realities of life don’t matter, Heather’s arc is plausible, but in reality it just presents her as blindly stupid. On the other hand, Jack’s journey is a little more realistic in today’s society, but it’s marred by the fact that the character doesn’t have a likeable bone in his body. His arc takes a turn for the worst which sends him into irredeemable territory, catching him up to Heather’s level of stupidity. Basically what we have here are two protagonists, neither of whom are interesting, contributing for a romance that no one is rooting for.
Pacing-wise the movie is a slog – the narrative meanders through random character detours and doesn’t feel structured at all. I guess given that it’s about embracing spontaneity and travelling the world, that approach may be by design, but it just lacks any intriguing arc. The romance between Heather and Jack is meant to be the driving force, but as we’ve established it isn’t enjoyable enough to carry the movie. Since that doesn’t work and there’s no B-plot to focus on, you’re really just waiting for those credits to roll.
As for its redeemable qualities, it’s slim pickings and I’d be grasping for straws to pull much that makes this a noteworthy watch. As I mentioned, I believe Madelyn Cline and KJ Apa are acting as directed – they’re playing their characters as written, it’s just a shame those characters are so morally out of whack. Sofia Wylie has a supporting role as Connie, and honestly she has more charisma than our leads. Her arc is pushed to the sidelines and only really present inside the first 45 minutes and she is missed. The girl group at least brought some level of entertainment to the film, so when they spontaneously depart it goes even further off the rails. Lastly, it’s a pretty movie – not a pretty good movie, but rather pretty. It’s a little like a visual diary making full use of its exotic European settings. There’s an attempt to tie some architecture like the Basílica de la Sagrada Família into the romantic theme and it kind of works, but is lost outside of the first 30 minutes.
In the end, The Map That Leads to You is a competently made romantic drama with good intentions, but it implodes thanks to its awful lead characters and terrible messaging. All I’ll say is don’t make any of the decisions these characters make in real life. I mean, common sense would prevent nearly anyone making these decisions, but apparently Heather doesn’t have that. Since the romance doesn’t work, the story also doesn’t have much to offer, resulting in a journey that’s got no real intrigue, stakes or emotion behind it. I wasn’t rooting for the characters, I was rooting for it to be over.
3/10
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