Monday Movie Review #4 - Dear John

Well, Dear John has officially reaffirmed my lack of faith in book-to-film adaptations. I know, it's sad to hear because I was really excited for this film, and I'm pretty sure a lot of you were/are, too. Perhaps it's just me. Either way, let's review...Below is the summary of the novel by Nicholas Sparks.



An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love--and face the hardest decision of his life.
Taken from GoodReads.

Dear John opens with a monologue from John, one of the many letters he has written over the course of his life, and it begins by showing the day John was injured overseas. A huge part of the book was the letters John and Savannah wrote one another while he was deployed. That was so downplayed though. It was almost an afterthought. (I'm really trying not to give spoilers here, so you'll have to forgive my incoherent babbling.) Nicholas Sparks books are sad. We all know this, but I have to be honest - the relationship between John and Savannah didn't make me cry. Not once. John's dad though, I cried over him. That broke my heart.

The movie fails to give much of John or Savannah's back story at all - back story that creates the actual story at hand. Yes, it's visually appealing, and yes, the setting is as gorgeous as the book describes, but other than that, there was just no real connection between John and Savannah, played by Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, respectively. To be blunt, Channing Tatum, though incredibly attractive, simply can't act the part. Rating this movie based only upon itself and not on the failure to live up to the book, I give this a 2 out of 5. Bottom line - do not go in expecting to see The Notebook because this will not measure up.

Highlights Include: The previews, watching Channing Tatum surf and checking out his abs, and dumb quotes like "You made fire! How primal."



P.S. They showed the trailer for The Last Song, also by Nicholas Sparks, and I have to say it looks a thousand times better, even if I'm not partial to Miley Cyrus.