My problems with it...

Rating: 4/10 (24 March 2011)

Well, I am not going to make many people happy, but...
If a guy sent me a letter every day for a year, ON TOP of him having some of the temper issues the Gosling character had, EVEN IF I LOVED HIM, even if my mother had been hiding the letters and even if he had no idea that is why I was not responding, I would probably put a restraining order on his a-- (figuratively speaking), not keep running back.
If a girl I knew had the kind of emotional instability and spoiled sense of privilege of the McAdams character, I would run far away from her as possible without regret. (Though, granted, if I I had had a mother like the Joan Allen character, I myself would probably be that messed up.) I think someone else said: this is an example of how NOT to have a relationship. It is not that I am so jaded, but ultimately I see the relationship between the two as troubling rather than beautiful.
And even if it was "just beautiful", have we not seen it before? Isn't it kind of like The Titanic (minus the sinking ship) set in the deep south on the cusp of WWII? The actors were very good at playing people I would not care to know. If the acting were not so good, I would feel like I was watching an early 80s Pia Zadora movie or something, or at least a slightly forgettable 50s melodrama that shows up on TCM at 3am once in a while.
Sorry if I offended. I don't mean to spoil other people's enjoyment, but I found myself actually upset with the way the film presented dysfunctionality as great love, without a hint of irony.
SPOILER ALERT: James Garner looks nothing like Ryan Gosling. And yet I still guessed the "twist". Sigh.