a bit overrated, isn't it?

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2009)

Whilst I found this movie nice and somewhat inspiring, I had to face it, it was nothing new or innovating. But I guess that wasn't the aim of the movie itself. It was meant to be a heart-warming romance drama and it was just that. The problem is that if you make this kind of movie where you have two parallel stories going on, you have to be able to make them blend. Now, I think here the direction didn't do such a splendid job, since I felt the stories were cut and didn't connect. Also, the acting was a bit wooden when it came to some characters. Rachel McAdams...is as usual a cute, interesting presence; nevertheless, in some scenes she tries to hard to act either like the victim or the American femme fatale and it doesn't work for her. Ryan Gosling however, really shows some acting props with this movie, because he basically keeps this movie going. I have to hand it to him; this is a chick flick but he turned it into a real adaptation. If it wasn't for him, this film would probably collapse at one point from the sappy pressure points. His cool demeanor mixed with a flaring angst really convinced me he was not only in love with her, but was also trying to treasure that love. The chemistry between the two is OK, not perfect, but it works for the early 20th century. I find it interesting that two completely different people get to have this kind of connection. The guy who wrote the actual book, Nicholas Sparks...OK, now this writer gets on my nerves sometimes because all his books are about these kind of things. Don't get me wrong, the man writes nicely, but overusing the same themes tends to put off some readers. Returning to the movie, I found the symbol of the notebook a nice touch and the tender relationship between the elderly couple really great. That was a lot more convincing than the youthful version of them. I'm giving it a seven because it did have a lot of potential, but that was lost sometimes in some unimportant scenes, or worse, skipped completely. People who love romantic movies and especially tear-jerkers should see this one since it will satisfy their expectations.