Netflix has been dropping young adult films left and right, from The Perfect Pairing to the upcoming Purple Hearts. One of them, Along for the Ride, is based on the book of the same name by Sarah Dessen. Initially published in 2009, the book wasn’t optioned for film until 2019. When it was optioned by the streamer, two other books by Dessen were as well: Once and For All and This Lullaby.

Emma Pasarow stars in the film adaptation as Auden, a girl trying to cram all the experiences she missed as a child into the summer between high school and college. On this journey, she connects with Eli (Belmont Cameli), an older guy that took a gap year from college to compete in a sponsored BMX biking. When a terrible accident happens at the end of the gap year, he opts not to go to college and work in a bike shop. The two work through Auden’s list of must-do things while growing closer.

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With the decade-long gap between the book’s publishing date and the film adaptation being green-lit, some changes had to be made to help viewers connect with the story today. While many films struggle with this, Along for the Ride is an excellent example of how to modernize a movie without losing the feeling of the text.

The Communication

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The book starts with Auden receiving emails from her father, and even more from her stepmother Heidi, about visiting over the summer. After her parent’s divorce, her father moved to a small beach town a few hours away. In the late 2000s, email was the go-to form of communication, especially as texting was not unlimited (it was as disappointing as it sounds). It made sense at the time that email was the way to go when writing the book.

However, come 2022, cell phones are the new computers, so it wouldn’t make sense to have her receiving emails from her pretty young stepmother. If Heidi were older, sure. But Heidi is made out to be in her late 20s, meaning she isn’t sending emails to everyone for personal communication. Instead, she’s leaving voicemails on Auden’s phone inviting her out, making sure she knows she’s welcome to come, and checking in to make sure she’s still coming (even though Heidi still forgets she’s coming because of her newborn baby). It was an easy change to make that doesn’t lose the feel of Heidi’s constant communication in the book.

Some could argue the voicemails don’t feel like the correct equivalent; that it should’ve gone from emails to texts. But, Heidi is a new mother. She doesn’t have the free hands to send long texts to her stepdaughter multiple times a day (and trying to voice-type texts always goes wrong). She is likely doing calls because she can set the phone down and record a voicemail while taking care of her baby.

The Bucket List

As high school comes to an end, Auden realizes she hasn’t really done what most teenagers, or even young kids, do in their lives. As the product of two university professors, she didn’t learn to ride a bike or go to parties. She stayed at home and worked on her school work or did internships and other things that would look great on her college applications. Her parents never let her have a child life, with her mother dismissing her when she mentions doing things other teens do.

In the book, Auden’s bucket list includes going bowling and riding a bike. She and Eli go bowling, and she swings a ball into the lane next door, clearly struggling at first. However, bowling doesn’t have quite the same cultural impact today as it did over a decade ago. To mitigate that, it was changed to mini-golfing in the film. They don’t completely eliminate bowling from the narrative, though. While mini-golfing, Auden has a throwaway line confirming she has indeed bowled before, so it isn’t lost. But she hasn’t been go-karting or mini-golfing, two popular activities today, which was a great way to incorporate the idea and date and make it fit the time period.

The Decision

Even Auden’s decision to visit her father and stepmother is modernized. In the book, she halfheartedly makes plans to visit shortly into summer. No one else is around, there isn’t a lot going on, and she wants something to do, so she goes. This choice has a very different vibe in the film. From the start, Auden is planning to go and seems really excited about her decision, no matter how negative her mother may be. It feels much like the attitude of today’s generation: very sure in their choices, no matter how small they may be, and excited for new experiences. It makes it more relatable to current audiences, which is always crucial to gaining viewership.

There are plenty more book-to-screen adaptations coming to Netflix this summer to check out, but Along for the Ride may end up being the best one simply because its subtle changes worked to make it relevant for today’s audience.