DEAR JOHN review

DEAR JOHN- Disclaimer: I am not a female, nor am I prone to embrace sappy depictions of unrequited love, so it’s safe to say that I’m probably not author Nicholas Sparks’ intended target demo. That being said, I was truly surprised by how much I enjoyed the 2004 adaptation of his novel The Notebook, significant credit for which must be given to the film’s talented stars, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. I might have even shed a man-tear or two, though if waterboarded I would still insist to the death that it was merely eye sweat. 

Director Lasse Hallström’s latest film, however, is not The Notebook, though it clearly aspires to tug on the very same emotional heartstrings. Based on Sparks’ novel, the story follows college student Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) and Special Forces soldier John Tyree (Channing Tatum), who fall head over heels after a bit of summer lovin’ (had me a blast!) while he’s home on leave. Of course he eventually returns to battle, and the two promise to write one another regularly, their letters practically dripping with the sort of longing that only comes from being denied that which our hearts really, really yearn for. While he’s away, she finds comfort in her friendship with a next-door neighbor (Henry Thomas), a sad-sack whose wife left him alone to care for their autistic child. When Tyree elects to re-enlist after the attack of 9/11, it doesn’t take Nostradomus to predict precisely where this story is headed. 

If you’ve seen The Notebook, it all feels a bit too familiar. Though Seyfried shows impressive dramatic range, Tatum can’t come close to matching Gosling’s dynamic charisma, and Hallström’s unwillingness to show us the hell of war leads to an odd sense of detachment from Tyree’s emotional plight. Veteran character actor Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) commands attention as Tyree’s socially awkward father, but ultimately even he can’t save this film from feeling like a retread of Sparks’ previous work, albeit with the added sociopolitical relevance only a soldier sacrificing his own happiness in the name of God and country can provide. The unsatisfying ending certainly doesn’t do it any favors, either. (C)  –BRET LOVE