Dear John-Very Wonderfully Yours ****

Rating: 9/10 (6 December 2010)

What's wrong with this picture? What's with the critics. It was absolutely picture perfect, dealing with contemporary issues across the board.
So many themes are wonderfully dealt with here. Abandonment, commitment, redemption are depicted beautifully in this story of love and the coming of age.
We see young love; commitment to country after the 9/11 attack; maturity and life factors beyond our control.
The cast is absolutely stellar.
Richard Jenkins shows his merit as an actor as the depressed actor, diagnosed by a college student with autism, who survived loneliness by his coin collection. His son, an army man, proving that the army builds character and leads to maturity. Amanda Siegfried, as his college student lover, shows a rare maturity beyond her age, and both an unwillingness and later willingness to commit to someone in the face of absolute tragedy.
This is a beautifully realized film.