By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle, Ap Entertainment Writer – In “Remember Me,” Robert Pattinson has temporarily stepped away from “Twilight,” apparently in search of his “Five Easy Pieces” or “Rebel Without a Cause.”

When Pattinson’s character — a wayward, rebellious 21-year-old named Tyler Hawkins — meets who will quickly become his love interest — a fellow NYU student named Ally (Emilie de Ravin) — he informs her that his major is “undecided.”

“`Bout what?” she responds.

“Everything,” he says.

As a character-defining quote, it’s a long way from Marlon Brando’s “Whaddya got?” in “The Wild One.” Perhaps an earlier draft had him saying he’s getting a “Ph.D. in misanthropy.”

Pattinson may be on leave from the narcotic melodrama of “Twilight,” but he’s still in full-on brooding mode. The young actor has an unmistakable screen presence. However in “Remember Me,” he pours it on thickly and self-consciously.

With low eyes, sleeves rolled up just so and cigarette drooping artfully from his mouth, Tyler (like Edward Cullen) is a reluctant romantic. He quotes Gandhi in voiceover, makes love to Sigur Ros and (understandably) can’t be moved to laughter by “American Pie 2.”

His deepness runneth over.

“Remember Me” begins ominously with the Twin Towers lurking in view behind an elevated subway in 1991 Brooklyn. A woman is senselessly murdered while her young daughter watches.

When the film shifts 10 years later, the girl is Ally, whom Tyler meets through a rather preposterous revenge plot directed at her father (Chris Cooper), a New York police officer who roughed Tyler up.

Their meeting is orchestrated by Tyler’s roommate, Tate, played by Aiden Hall. But there will be no fan-created Team Tyler vs. Team Tate here. The roommate is an annoying chatterbox, whose comedic moments drag the film.

A sense of dread — hinted at by the movie’s title and intoned by Marcelo Zarvos’ score — is carried though the film, which is set in the summer of 2001. Sudden spurts of violence punctuate the story.

Long before the big reveal ending, one begins to feel “Remember Me” is romanticizing — even fetishizing — tragedy. There’s a pretentious reveling in emotional scars and painful loss.

Tyler is the son of a high-powered attorney (Pierce Brosnan), an absent father to Tyler and his young sister, Caroline (Ruby Jerins). Some time earlier, Tyler’s older brother committed suicide — the hurtful event that has given Tyler much of his grimness.

Heaviness weighs on Ally and her father, too. Cooper is typecast as an uptight, overbearing father, but he’s predictably solid.

Brosnan is the highlight of the film, again proving — as he did in Roman Polanski’s recent “The Ghost Writer” — his character actor chops. Tucked stoically behind a suit, he ably sports a Brooklyn accent in believable, confrontational scenes with Pattinson.

Director Allen Coulter shows the same skill in creating atmosphere as he did in “Hollywoodland,” but the script by Will Fetters (his first) is uneven.

The most pleasing thing about “Remember Me” is its boldness. It may be affected, but “Remember Me” is at least aiming for an intriguing character study — a positive sign in the young career of Pattinson (who is also an executive producer).

The story revolves around three engineering students — Rancho (Aamir), Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Sharman) — and their journey. The film covers every aspect of their lives including Rancho’s romance with Pia (Kareena) and his conflicts with their teacher Viru Sahastrabudhhe (Boman).
“3 Idiots” is about how Rancho influences his two friends and teaches them to live life on their own terms. But one day he just vanishes. Then begins Farhan and Raju’s search for Rancho and finally learning the secret behind his disappearance.

The music of the film is already topping the charts with songs like “Aal izz well”, “Zoobi doobi”, “Jaane nahin denge tujhe” and “Give me some sunshine” becoming chartbusters.

This is the third year in succession when Aamir’s movie will release in December after “Taare Zameen Par” and “Ghajini”.

No big budget Bollywood movie is preceding “3 Idiots” from the previous week and it has created just the right amount of curiosity among audiences…will this Chopra-Hirani-Aamir collaboration strike gold at the box office and close 2009 on a happy note?