Cynics should've even bother..

Rating: Null/10 (22 June 2004)

Nick Cassavetes' THE NOTEBOOK opens with a beautiful widescreen shot of a sunset, while Aaron Zigman's piercingly lovely score serenades us. It's the kind of opening for movies I normally steer clear of -- sun-dappled, lovelorn trash-romance-novel esque Hollywood crap. But, I was surprised by how effective the movie is. In doses. And how just about perfect the central relationship is.
Allie and Noah meet at the local fair. He jumps onto the ferris wheel, and dangles precariously in front of her until she agrees to a date. The next day when he comes to collect, she denies him, of course, but in a flirty way. She may have some wrong-side-of-the-tracks notion about the guy because of her upbringing, but she can't help but love the attention.
What worked for me about this story is that these two people are in love, and they know it. It's real, they feel it, no pretensions. No waiting till it's too late to do anything about. And, sure, overall the film is sketchy and quite saccharine, with too many _moments_ (he teaches her to drive; they dance in the street). It also doesn't know where to end. But, it put a lump in my throat. The scenes between Ryan Gosling and an extremely fetching Rachel McAdams (from MEAN GIRLS), where it's just the two of them exploring what it's like to be in love at 17, are romantic as hell. Even if it is only a Summer thing, and parents are going to eventually intrude (Joan Allen is a caricature as the unapproving mother), the courtship leading up to their first time together is wonderfully done.
McAdams handles the scene where her character is about to lose her virginity especially well; "I wanted this to be perfect, and now I just can't shut up." Gosling is terrific throughout; soft-spoken and understated, where most actors would overplay. The second half of the film has a moment where Allie comes up on something in the home that Noah has completely remodeled ("like I promised") that stops her in her tracks. Anybody who hasn't already whipped out that trusty box of Kleenex may now do so.
The whole movie has a kind of a LIAR'S MOON feel to it, minus the incest and pregnancy. I didn't like the wrap around scenes as much, with James Garner reading from said notebook to Gena Rowlands. Whenever Gosling and McAdams aren't on screen, I wanted them back.
Still, for a film that lays on the sentiment thick, THE NOTEBOOK is a minor success. It comes the closest I think I've ever seen to capturing that intangible, mysterious feeling of being in love for the very first time.