Every once in awhile, a melodrama manages to incorporate the typical themes of the genre yet elevate itself above the cliches that go along with those themes. Genuinely moving without falling back on the stereotypes that could easily be expected of it, The Greatest is an excellent example of how melodrama can and should be done.
I don’t know that I’ve ever gotten into it here, but I’ve never made my distaste for Kristin Stewart a secret. Not counting child acting, I’ve previously only seen her in one film not in the Twilight franchise, and in it she annoyed me nearly as much as she does as Bella. I assumed, not unreasonably, that rather than actually act, she’d prefer to blink and twitch her way through scenes. Apparently I was very wrong, and The Runaways is proof.
