A touching story.

Rating: 7/10 (19 February 2008)

The best part about The Notebook, just like Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember, is the story taken from a Nicholas Sparks novel. Sparks is so good at taking simple love stories and expanding them to mean so much to us that they become true tear-jerkers. While I didn't cry during this film, I was truly touched by the story of two people trying to come together with every obstacle imaginable trying to stop them. Ryan Gosling is strong as the head romantic man and Rachel McAdams is so beautiful and charming and lovable as Allie, it is hard to look at anything but her in every scene she is in. However, in my opinion, the young lovers' scenes don't compare to the power and emotion of those with James Garner and Gina Rowlands, playing the older Noah and Allie. As Allie got older, she began to lose her memory and now Noah is trying to help her remember who he is and what they used to have. The scene where she goes to a frightened rage because she doesn't know where she is is truly moving. Still, the best part is the last scene, where they die on the same bed together holding each other's hands. That is the perfect picture of true love. They had differences and complications, but they loved each other; it was that simple. It may not pack the emotional wallop some are looking for, but it is still a well-worthy film to see and one of the best love stories in modern film-making.