Wifey's Chick Flick of the Week- Dear John

Dear John is the latest Nicholas Sparks romance novel turned movie.  It is touted as being up there with other Sparks book to movie classics such as The Notebook, but I’m going to go ahead and burst that bubble for you right now and let you know it is not The Notebook, not even close, really.  While the film shows flashes of that “Notebook” magic, overall, there were too many story hurdles (more like mountains) that simply were not overcome.

The biggest problem the film has is its premise (kind of hard to write or shoot a great film when the idea itself poses huge problems).  The story focuses on a couple that falls madly in love over the span of a two week Spring break and then must part ways for a year, with John (Channing Tatum) going overseas with the Army and Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) going back to college. However, they vow to stay together by writing each other letters back and forth, hence the title.  Now, I’m sure the first thing you’ll want to point out is, “Who ever falls in love on Spring Break?” Yes, MTV Spring Break definitely elicits more images of binge drinking and drunken flashing than romance and love, but that’s not even the biggest issue with the premise.  The character development and relationship are driven forward through letters. Letters. What’s supposed to happen when they’re separated? We just cut back and forth to each of them reading letters? Not exactly an appealing film. 

Despite this glaring obstacle, the filmmakers actually do a pretty decent job of keeping the story moving through these months and years of separation.  They do what they must:  have montages of the two lovers living their separate lives and pining for each other.  In order to make the montages work, they force their way through the intro, planting set-ups such as the moon and coins to reap pay-offs later on.  The film also seems to manufacture the attraction between the two characters.  Nothing that actually happens when they’re together comes across as being special for the characters and neither of them really make a leap of faith to go after the other until about 20-25 minutes into the movie, right before they are about to separate.

Once they separate, though, the movie starts getting good, and you can start seeing that heart-warming “Notebook” magic sneaking up on you.  The film accomplishes this largely through smart (albeit unimaginative) directing and great acting by Seyfried (she truly is a fantastic actress and I don’t know if the film even makes theaters with anyone else cast in her part). The direction is not groundbreaking, but it understands the story’s limitations and effectively navigates around them.  Overall, it’s fine except for two shots (really the same one at different parts of the story).  To simulate the disorientation of battle, the camera starts turning, flipping upside down, and moving in and out. It’s very discombobulating, but instead of drawing us in to the character’s perspective, it is so disorienting it takes us out of the film. Other than that, the direction’s okay for the most part (it misses some key shots), but does a good job of placing meaningful visuals with the voiced-over letters or scored montages (this entire sequence when they’re separated seems to be scored with the sappy, romantic music that builds a sense of longing: kind of obvious, but effective nonetheless).

At this point, about two-thirds into the movie, I was thinking, “Okay, this might just be good after all.”  However, that all came crashing down in an instant when the film’s major twist hits.  While this twist is, sadly, very realistic, I felt the film was so concerned with showing montages to get through the part in which all the two lovers really had was letters, that it didn’t properly develop the relationship or the characters to explain the twist.  This twist makes no sense based on what the film has shown us and the allowances it has asked us to give it (such as believing people will fall madly in love during a two week Spring Break in which they don’t do anything too special at all).  From there, it doesn’t really give us any insight into what either character feels or thinks about this twist until much later, and that explanation doesn’t satisfy.  The film then proceeds down a rather predictable, yet untrue to the characters, finish for the last ten minutes.  When it ends with the final resolve, my wife and I looked at each other and said, “Really?... that’s it?”

The film has some potential and for the middle third, it flashes what likely makes the novel great.  However, the forced introduction and unsatisfactory ending really make it not worth bothering.  I don’t doubt the novel is excellent, but in converting it to film you could just tell the filmmakers had to leave out huge chunks of very important story and character development.  That on top of a premise that is not action-driven at all, makes this a nearly impossible book to film conversion. While the filmmakers tried hard and probably did the best anyone could do, I still don’t think Dear John is a good movie, and there are plenty of better excuses (and movies) to use as a means to curl up on the couch with your significant other.

Scale: 

1-  Lots of Better Movies at Blockbuster   

2-  Might Be Worth Renting, if you're bored

3-  Rent It When You Get to It

4-  A Must Rent, at some point

5-  Put It in Your Queue NOW!

My Rating: 2

If you like this, check out:  The Notebook (New Line Platinum Series) 

Buy Dear John