Only sentimental souls should see this predictable romance, and they'd better take a stash of tissues with them.
By PHILIP BOOTH
Published June 24, 2004
[Photos: New Line Cinema]
Allie (Rachel McAdams), left, and Noah (Ryan Gosling) navigate parental disapproval and separation in The Notebook, a sentimental story of boy meets girl, loses girl, gets girl back.
James Garner and Gena Rowlands turn in compelling performances despite having little to work with.
Sometimes, to help moviegoers avoid wasting time and money, a reviewer must be cruel to be kind.
So here goes: The Notebook is the sappiest, most sentimental movie of the summer, the worst offender of its genre since the last time Hollywood took on a Nicholas Sparks novel - 2002's forgettable A Walk to Remember. The corny 1999 weeper Message in a Bottle marked the first occasion a Sparks bestseller was adapted for the big screen.
This one comes with a frame, a series of contemporary events through which the period story is viewed. Duke, a kindly older man played by James Garner, visits a nursing home to read to an Alzheimer's patient portrayed by Gena Rowlands, mother of the film's director, Nick Cassavetes.
The two screen veterans, though given very little worthwhile material to go on, turn in more compelling performances than those of the actors in the parallel story. Why not stick with these characters, and follow their lives as they contend with an ugly, unforgiving disease? That's the movie I'd rather see.
Alas, young love is at the heart of this drama. The story, sad to say, is a variation on one that has been told a million times: Boy meets girl, their romance is thwarted by time and circumstance, and, finally, true love reigns (insert rolling timpani and soaring strings). Last year's Cold Mountain, to name just one film, employed a similar scenario to much greater effect.
The setting is Seabrook, N.C., circa 1940 or so. There, blue-collar fellow Noah (Ryan Gosling, The Believer) pulls a crazy stunt on a Ferris wheel, the better to get the attention of pretty Allie (Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls), whose blue blood family is vacationing in the area. She eventually falls for his ardent attention and puppy-cute looks, and the two are rapidly embroiled in a summer romance that turns steamy.
Allie's Southern-aristocrat parents (Joan Allen and David Thornton, the latter adorned with a comical fright moustache) don't want their little rich girl hooking up with a poor local boy. So they hastily leave the coastal town and successfully break up the teen lovers. College, for her, a wartime Army stint, for him, and new relationships are among the obstacles that keep the two separated for several years.
For the inevitable reunion, Gosling and McAdams offer about as much chemistry as the first time their characters got together - none at all.
There are links, of course, between the two couples, but Cassavetes and his screenwriters rather clumsily give away the connections too soon. And the ending, too, is a letdown. It comes off as a cheap exit, a convenient method of shutting down the story without too much trouble. Still, tissues may be required: At a recent screening, sniffles augmented the soundtrack for the credits.
The Notebook
Grade: C-
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands, James Marden, David Thornton, Sam Shepard, Joan Allen
Screenplay: Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi; adapted from the Nicholas Sparks novel
