Cheesy But Saved By Its Lead Performances

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2014)

The Notebook is a well known film. If you say "romance film", the first movie that pops into peoples minds is generally The Notebook. I would say they do because of two main reasons. The first reason being that it's written by Nicolas Sparks, the writer of tons of cheesy romance books, making it have some really cheesy elements to it, but I also believe that it's chemistry between its leads helps save this from falling flat. (Which is ironic because apparently Gosling hated McAdams when they were shooting and they didn't get along)
As I said, the film is quite cheesy. It uses many clichés that romance movies use, the biggest probably being the "rich girl loves poor boy whom her parents disapprove of" cliché. There's also a lot of unrealistically cheesy stuff with the whole Alzheimer's's thing, making it just seem ridiculous. You can tell a lot of things are written to be overly romantic or tug on your heart strings without much regard as to what makes sense. That's not to say there aren't good romantic things here. Sometimes love and romance can be cheesy in real life, that's just the way it is, so you kind of have to accept things to a certain degree. Moments such as the kiss in the rain or love scene really work, but I think that's all because of the chemistry between Gosling and McAdams.
This really is a film saved by its performances. Moments that would seem awkward or cheesy if done with other actors seem more believable between Gosling and McAdams, totally boosting the quality of this film. Gosling comes across as a really love struck guy who you feel for, and McAdams pulls off that beautiful and fun but slightly naive and unsure girl role perfectly. I honestly think this movie would be another stupid film to appeal to unrealistic female fantasies if it wasn't for these performances.
Overall, I think this film is well known in the romance genre for a reason. It's got cheesy moments but stuff that works. I do believe, however, that it's way more easily enjoyed by people who are currently in love or in a relationship or whatever, because if you haven't experienced it, you just won't feel the feelings that Gosling and McAdams wonderfully express in their best moments. If you're single and lonely... you will hate this film big time.