A True Love Story From Beginning To End

Rating: 7/10 (4 July 2004)

You don't find many movies like The Notebook. Sure, there are many loves stories, too many, actually. They all follow the same formula and you know the ending from the time the lights go down. The Notebook is also a love story; it's a formulaic movie that you already know the end of. What makes it different is that it's the story of one couples relationship from start to finish.	Allie (Rachel McAdams) and Noah (Ryan Gosling) meet at a carnival the summer that Allie is seventeen. She's high society spending the summer in Seabrook. He doesn't have a dime to his name. It's the classic tale of love, the rich girl and the boy her parents don't approve of. Despite, they fall in love. Fast-forward twenty years, Allie's about to marry to a man of money. But that wouldn't be fitting in this story of true love, would it?
The movie is based off the novel by Nicholas Sparks (A Walk To Remember, Message In A Bottle). Like his previous two book-into-movie adaptations, the focus is on the story and not the characters. These stories do not specialize in developing well-rounded characters. To enjoy The Notebook, you have to suspend reality in this aspect. Noah appears to the audience as the perfect boy, who's just too nice, too sweet. His character is always staring at Allie with sad, puppy dog eyes, even after twenty-five years. But, if you accept that this is the character, Ryan Gosling's performance is good. It's strong and believable. Rachel McAdams who's previous film this year was Mean Girls, takes a complete turn form that and gives the best performance of the movie. This may be because her character is the written better than anyone else's.	The true achievement of The Notebook is in the portrayal of first love, the summer romance. McAdams and Gosling have a great chemistry that is not just a physical attraction but, even in their quarrels, they still radiate a deep friendship that helps underline the point of The Notebook. Fortunately, the portion of the movie with McAdams and Gosling is more than the part with the older versions of themselves (James Garner and Joan Allen). Garner is reading from the notebook to Allen. She is stricken with Alzheimers and he's convinced that if he reads the story to her enough, his Allie will remember. It's touching and sweet but not as accurately done as the former. From mistakes in the medical aspects of it, to the leap of faith the last scene makes, it comes up more scattered than the rest.	It's not an amazing movie but from the material it's based on, it could have been much worse. The excellent performances by the whole cast and the heart that is shown make it a decent film. It's not one that will stand the test of time as an amazing love story but it's worth seeing. Though it's a tearjerker, it's also hopeful in the best way.