The Map That Leads To You (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
Aug 19
3 min read

THE MAP THAT LEADS TO YOU (2025)

Starring Madelyn Cline, KJ Apa, Sofia Wylie, Madison Thompson, Orlando Norman, Josh Lucas, JR Esposito, Marilyn Cutts, Joseph Evans, Diego Ross, Ana Hernández Sanchiz, Javier Barandiaran, Emilio Linder, Albar Cirarda, Clara Viñals, Álvaro Cobas, Fiorella Pedrazzini, Giuseppe Schillaci, Xavi Siles, Tora Hallstrom, Tor Miller and Eva García Montiel.

Screenplay by Vera Herbert and Les Bohem.

Directed by Lasse Hallström.

Distributed by Amazon MGM Studios. 98 minutes. Rated PG-13.

It’s sort of strange that pretty much every YA love story that ends up on streaming suddenly takes a sharp turn into life and death drama about 2/3s of the way through the film. Take The Map That Leads to You, which seems to be a sweet and charming romance set amongst some breathtaking European scenery, when suddenly one of the members of the couple must face their own mortality.

I guess we have The Fault of Our Stars to blame for this (although you knew that both of the kids in that film had eventually-terminal diseases from the beginning in that film), but frankly that was one of the better films of the sort. The Map That Leads to You? Not so much.

Which is actually a shame, because I was kind of enjoying The Map That Leads to You up until the point that it took a swift turn into pathos. It wasn’t the best film of its type ever, but it had some very cute people (Madelyn Cline of Outer Banks and KJ Apa of Riverdale and their adorable friends) looking at some spectacularly gorgeous scenery and having silly-but-fun adventures as they fell in love. What’s not to like?

They meet cute – actually, sort of obnoxiously cute – when Jack (Apa) literally climbs up onto the luggage rack of a train, to “take a nap” while looking right down on Heather (Cline) and her two best friends. I won’t even get into the specifics of this choice – That couldn’t be comfortable. Is a luggage rack sturdy enough to hold a human being? Wouldn’t a train employee make him get down? – but I’m sorry, that’s kind of massively creepy.

However, despite the fact that she has some crazy guy staring at her from above, Heather starts to talk to Jack, and they actually hit it off.

So they walk around gorgeous European cities – sometimes with their friends – sometimes just by themselves, getting to know each other and falling in love while talking about life, aspirations, philosophy, art, history, social media, traveling, friends and family. For a while, it seems like The Map That Leads To You may turn out to be inspired by Before Sunset – not as good as that film, but a reasonably well-done cosplay of that classic.

Then we are let in on the secret that one member of the couple is terminally ill – I won’t say who for spoilers’ sake – and that they haven’t told the other one about it. And that’s where The Map That Leads To You skids right off the tracks into melodrama.

Still, the young cast is charismatic and carries the story as far as they can. The only known adult actor in this film is Josh Lucas, who plays Heather’s father. It’s something of a nothing role – in fact, he only appears on Facetime mode on a cell phone for the first hour of the movie, although he eventually does have a few scenes in which he actually appears on a real set with other characters.

Surprisingly, The Map That Leads to You is directed by Swedish art house filmmaker Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog, The Cider House Rules, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?). While honestly, this film could have probably been made by just about any director, I’d like to think that Hallström’s visual sense added to the distinctive flair in sharing the remarkable European scenery, which arguably is the most entertaining part of this film.

Perhaps you should just watch the first hour or so of The Map That Leads to You and skip over the last half hour.

Jay S. Jacobs