Movie Review: 'Remember Me' won't create many memories

Robert Patttinson and Emile de Ravin in "Remember Me."

“Remember Me,” from its forgettable title to its by-the-numbers story structure, feels every bit like a student film project adapted by a big-league director and a star-heavy cast.

It’s polished and earnest and in parts shows promise of a strong storytelling voice. But even with the sure hand of director Allen Coulter (“Hollywoodland” and “The Sopranos”) at the helm, the mature star power of Pierce Brosnan, Lena Olin, Chris Cooper and Kate Burton and the smoldering hot presence of heartthrob-of-the-moment Robert Pattinson in its favor, the film comes off as slightly half-baked.

Drawn from a jam-packed screenplay by young first-timer Will Fetters, “Remember Me” sets its tale in a robust New York City milieu, circa summer and early fall of 2001.

In a grainy flashback to a decade before, the story starts with a cold-blooded mugging and murder on a late-night subway platform, a crime witnessed by cute, blond, 11-year-old Alyssa and investigated by hard-nosed homicide detective Sgt. Neil Craig (Cooper), who just happens to be the victim’s husband.

Leap ahead to 2001, and we pick up 21-year-old Ally (Emilie de Ravin of “Lost” fame), a precocious sociology major who is still living at home with her overly protective policeman dad.

In a parallel narrative thread, we’re introduced to Pattinson’s rebellious college student Tyler Hawkins, who has his issues with an overbearing but emotionally distant father (Brosnan, sporting a hard-edged Brooklyn accent).

Through contrivances and coincidences that groan like cogs in a machine, Tyler has a late-night, bloody-nose clash with Craig and a few days later strikes up a cute campus flirtation with Ally, who doesn’t know this sexy hunk’s history with her dad.