Too Many Problems

Rating: 4/10 (10 August 2013)

"Dear John" directed by Lasse Holstrom is a poor effort with a bunch of different problems. (Spoilers) Neither Channing nor Sieyfried are very good, and the direction doesn't help either. Sieyried looks too young the part, and an older more mature actress would've improved this minor problem. They sometimes sleepwalk through scenes, but that's not the main problem. The main issue is the cruddy Music Video Cuts that occur at least in 20 min of the movie. We've seen this in too many movies of late - it's a lazy out for directors who don't want to spend the time to hash out good dialog or real scenes. Here, it's over-indulged like food to a glutton. These scenes are wash-overs, contributing little if anything, and they last too long. Something else, watching letter writing scenes with narration doesn't work - it's b-o-r-i-n-g and should've been cut. Actor Richard Jenkins has a good supporting part in the movie but is underwritten. And the last 3rd of the movie doesn't work, it feels like the filmmakers want to create some sort of fairy- tale scenario - it wasn't at all believable.. Yes, There's just too many problems - and it's a poor movie for it. Can't recommend - 4/10