behind every love there is a story (forget the great)

Rating: 6/10 (20 January 2006)

The reason I saw The Notebook was because I really liked Rachel McAdams in Wedding Crashers. She is a doll, isn't she? Rachel was so good in Wedding Crashers so I wanted to see her in another movie.
To tell you the truth I'm not quite sure about this one. The Notebook is definitely not a great movie  that's for sure. I haven't read the book but I got the feeling that the director was picking from different passages of the book in order to give us maximum information in a very limited time. I am referring to the second act with all the many short stories  the war, house, new boyfriend and girlfriend, and so on and so on. The acting was also not that good. Rachel in a way was OK but Ryan Gosling acted too boyish for this role. There wasn't a good chemistry between the 2 leads. The whole cast with the exception of the old Noah wasn't convincing. Not to mention the ending was so very contrived.
However this is a love story and as such some fantasies are allowed. From a bird's view this is a film about the time old question: should one follow the heart or should one follow the head? Which body organ is more reliable when making decisions? Choosing between what's good for the soul or what's good for the body. Passion or reason. Ideal versus money. Tough question I know. But what I know is that the movie also won't give you a convincing answer. I guess there isn't one.
There are other good love stories out there that are much better than The notebook. One that comes to mind from the new ones is The Constant Gardener. The Notebook is a romantic melodrama that has its moments I guess. If it so happens that you might even cry, take a look at yourself in the mirror, take your time and think what's wrong withyou.
6 stars out of 10