Cliché after cliché

Rating: 5/10 (28 March 2007)

I don't have a heart of stone and I do like a bit of romance.This was a movie that I had read about on IMDb and it had many a glowing review.So why did it leave me so cold?I'll try and explain.
First the good.It is generally well acted,especially Ryan Gosling and James Garner.I did think that Joan Allen gave probably the finest performance though.Mmmm,now the not so good.I found the two romantic leads to be slightly annoying,what with him hanging from the Big Wheel and lying in the road waiting for the traffic lights to change.Grow up sprang to mind.I just didn't connect at all with either of them.Then there is the cynical attempts to make the viewer sob uncontrollably.
The boy's father dies(where did that spring from?).They drift apart,she meets someone else,they meet again and fall in love.I have seen this so many times that this movie just didn't offer anything different.*MAJOR SPOILER ALERT*----Then there was the ending.What the hell can we do to have the audience sobbing their hearts out?Yep,They can both die in bed together.I may seem an unfeeling oaf,but I didn't feel the slightest twinge of emotion because I could kind of guess something like that would happen.That was the major fault of this movie.There are just so many clichéd moments you can take.When emotion is done well it can work brilliantly.The endings of 'It's A Wonderful Life','Gladiator','Braveheart' or 'City Lights' are classic examples of the viewer being gradually drawn in in a very subtle way.'The Notebook' may well be a very popular movie amongst many people,it just 'aint my cup of tea.