Touching, sentimental story of star-crossed lovers...

Rating: 7/10 (6 December 2006)

Not since SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS has a love story so rich and tender touched my heart as THE NOTEBOOK--although, when reviewing it, I must confess its length is the main weakness. Surely, some editing would have improved the overall impact of the love story.
It's the rich girl/poor man kind of tale with physical attraction being the glue that holds them together at the beginning until their love deepens and it seems inevitable that theirs will be a lifelong bond. Then the girl's wealthy parents disapprove of the affair heading toward the altar and scheme a way of separating them by sending the girl off to New York and leaving her love behind in the mid-west. His numerous letters to her are kept from her and gradually she comes to believe that their love has died out and is wooed by another, wealthier young man (JAMES MARSDEN) who is serious about cementing their relationship.
But the love story is framed by a flashback technique that has the man, Noah (JAMES GARNER) telling the story to an elderly lady in a nursing home (GENA ROWLANDS) who encourages him to tell it, telling him she likes "this kind of story", before she realizes, at the end, that the tale is about her own relationship with him. She is a woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's and at one point suddenly turns on him and says, "Who are you?"
It's an unabashed tear-jerker, the kind I thought they didn't make any more, and it's a well crafted one with shimmering color photography of outdoor locales and extremely well acted by a more than competent cast that gets every nuance out of the complex characters.
RYAN GOSLING as the young Noah is outstanding, perfectly capturing the enormous feelings he has for the girl, and RACHEL McADAMS is wonderfully sweet and sassy as the girl who has to decide which man she will spend the rest of her life with.
For anyone wondering if they still made tear-jerkers in this jaded and cynical age of hard-edged films, this one fills the bill. Not since NATALIE WOOD and WARREN BEATTY went through all the triumphs and tragedies of bittersweet love in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS, have I seen a romance as touching and poignant as this one.