Dear John (2010)

2/5

Dear John is a bad movie. It is based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, and I presume that novel is bad as well, because the bad part about this movie is its story. The cinematography was fine, the acting was fine, but the story sucked. The story starts with an army sergeant (Tatum) during a 2-week leave back home with his dad (Jenkins) in Charleston. On the beach, he meets a girl who also went back home to Charleston for spring break from college (Seyfried). They fall madly in love and, at the conclusion of the 2 weeks, he of course has to go back to the army and she of course has to go back to school. They promise that they will write each other as often as is humanly possible and things go just peachily at first. But where would the romance be without some trials and tribulations along the way that they must overcome? Do they overcome it? Ah, I guess you'll have to see it to find out what happens next.

But I don't think anyone should see this movie, so I'll just tell you what happens next: she sends him a Dear John letter and tells him she's engaged to someone else. Oh no! The problem with this movie is that it sets itself up as a movie with the potential to tug at your heartstrings and ultimately satisfy your desire for their love to be fulfilled. Instead it is painful obstacle after obstacle until they finally smack into a brick wall and give up. It is not a story of true love triumphing in the face of uncontrollable external factors; it is the story of affection and need failing in the face of inconvenience. And don't talk to me about the ending. The ending is not a redemption; it is sap and sentimentality without any resonance of truth. It is the author writing a convenient end to an inconvenient setup. It is illogical, frustrating, and out of context. Don't watch this movie. You will either be disappointed or angry, and neither is what you want to feel after emerging from the theater.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0989757/

The Notebook (2004)

3/5

Before I start this review, I should note that there were certain distractions that took my attention away from the movie for several minutes at a time. Thus, it may be an unfair assessment. However, I remain confident in my rating within plus or minus 0.5 stars, which I don't use anyway. With that in mind, let us begin with the review.

The Notebook is a rather simple boy meets girl tearjerker love story. The title refers to a notebook detailing how the couple met and fell in love. Now a grandfather, the man reads it to his Alzheimer-stricken wife to help her get back the memories the disease stole from her. It's a tender premise, at risk of being filled with saccharine sentimentality and overwrought melodrama. For the most part, it manages to avoid the sappiness associated with its cliched and tired story, and instead infuses it with just the right amount of emotion. This is in large part due to the acting by the two leads (Gosling and McAdams), whose performances allow us to feel empathy instead of resentment for the cocky boy and rich girl who find true love in each other. As far as the story and acting goes, this is about as good a film as any other romance.

Technically, the film is about the same as your typical romantic fare. The painterly compositions could be quite stunning, but the overuse of slo-mo was a bit excessive. The simple editing served the story well, with some efficiently-cut scenes and some unnecessary ones. The dialogue, what I heard of it, wasn't particularly poetic or cheesy. All in all, this was a fairly average romance with a few good qualities and a few bad qualities. If it seems like this is your type of movie, you'll probably enjoy it. But it won't change anybody's mind about the genre.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332280/