Mills & Boon redux

FRANCO Zeffirelli's original Endless Love movie from 1981 was notable for a couple of things - the sappy late-night duet by Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross; and Tom Cruise and James Spader appearing in supporting roles early in their Hollywood careers. Pre-Internet era, the film also gained a certain notoriety for its raunchy love scenes which initially earned it an X rating in the US before it was re-edited to a less racy R; and featured a scene where a then-16-year-old Brooke Shields takes it all off in front of a fireplace.

Fast forward 33 years later - in a digital age where willing naughty selfies posted on social media networks are par for the course for any attention-seeking nubile starlet - and it comes as a slight surprise that writer-director Shana Feste's (Country Strong) reboot could turn out to be this chaste. But who could blame her when the leads, Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) and Gabriella Wilde (Carrie), both have a toothy apple-pie wholesomeness that can only naturally steer this remake towards PG territory.

So this version of Endless Love gets about as explicit as those MTV-type spring break reality shows that feature plenty of teenagers in skimpy outfits but draw the line at nudity. Save for one very brief scene where Wilde disrobes a la Shields in front of the fireplace (but with her long blonde hair strategically shielding her naughty bits), the rest of the sex scenes are implied and mostly don't go beyond a few seconds of tonguing between Wilde and Pettyfer.