an uninspired "Notebook"

Rating: 3/10 (19 April 2010)

I'm one of those people who write reviews either if they are very pleased or very annoyed with what they've seen. This time, I'm annoyed.
After watching the trailer several times, I said to my boyfriend "we have to go watch a screening of this", but we never got to, since it never came to the cinemas in Romania. "Never mind", I said, "we'll just rent the DVD". And so we did, although he protested "If it never got to the cinemas, it must be bad". "No way", I told him, "Nicholas Sparks wrote the book, you know, the guy who wrote The Notebook". I ended up watching "Dear John" by myself, this morning.
OK, enough with the intro.
I'll start with the root of all evil, the script (the book, that is). It was shocking to see how the main characters had very similar backgrounds as the main characters from The Notebook. He's a middle class boy, and being raised only by his dad, she's from the upper social class, living in big farm house.
The plot is also disturbingly similar: they meet one wonderful day while she's with her friends; he does something out of the ordinary to catch her eye, and she eventually agrees to date him. They date for a short time, everything is heavenly, until he needs to go away and fight for his country. He stays away too long, she marries someone else, he's heartbroken. Somewhere along the way his dad dies and John comes home on a short leave. He sells his dad's belongings, and returns to the army. Eventually John and Savannah randomly meet and (probably) reunite.
OK, the cast. Well, the chemistry between Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried is really intense and it is one of things that saves this movie. The acting, I would say, is acceptable, but not necessarily the best. I would say they did what they could, given the circumstances. Music? Probably (just like the rest of the movie) intended for heartbroken teenage girls.
The only genuinely emotional moment (and one of the few original things in the movie), in my opinion, is when John reads his letter to his dad. Although far-fetched (I doubt an autistic person would reach out to hold another person... speaking of which, I'm wondering, how ever has John has been conceived?!), quite a touching scene.
I'm really sorry this film is so much under anything I had expected. And I'm really sorry I didn't choose to watch The Notebook all over again. That's a wrap!