“The Notebook” (New Line Cinema)
Nicholas Sparks’ first novel, THE NOTEBOOK, was a huge success. Readers found themselves totally absorbed by this story of love that crossed generations and burned as brightly at the end as at the beginning. The book cried out to be made into a film and now it has. Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Gena Rowlands and James Garner star in the movie and become the living embodiment of the characters Sparks’ words created.
The film starts with an older man (Garner) visiting a woman (Rowlands) in a nursing home in order to read to her. They appear to be strangers but she does respond to the story he is reading to her. Flashbacks bring the story to life and it is all about a girl named Allie (McAdams) and a boy named Noah (Gosling).
Noah and Allie have a troubled relationship. He is the son of a poor but proud man (Sam Shepard) while she is the daughter of socially prominent parents. Her mother (Joan Allen) is especially against her relationship with Noah. Their love affair persists until World War II intervenes. During this time Allie meets another suitor (James Marsden) and falls in love with him.
The movie flows back and forth between the past and the present. You are never sure just who Garner and Rowlands’ characters represent until the end, but it isn’t a big surprise. The surprise of the movie is in the ending that is too contrived to be acceptable. It may satisfy some but for most it will be a jolt of too much “happily ever after.”
The acting in the film is uneven. McAdams is the breakout star with her natural and unassuming performance. She is a breath of fresh air in a film that has too much hot air circulating. Some of the aspects of the plot ring fake but McAdams performance never does.
Gosling is totally miscast as Noah. It isn’t that he is a bad actor, he just isn’t right for this part. Gosling has made his career so far playing quirky, dark souls who might kill you if you crossed them. And he has been brilliant in doing this. Noah is a salt of the earth good old boy and Gosling is never convincing in that role.
Garner and Rowlands are okay in the roles of the older couple but are not outstanding. Allen has some good moments as Allie’s mother, while Marsden is window dressing as the other love of Allie’s life.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and sexual situations.
There is a lot of emphasis on the horrors of Alzheimer’s’ Disease in the film; much more so than in Sparks’ novel. This may prove to be too intense and unsettling for older members of the audience.
“The Notebook” is not a page-turner of a movie. It is a slow and somewhat enjoyable tearjerker but it never reaches the point of being enthralling. You enjoy the story but you aren’t absorbed by it. And then there is that awfully convenient ending.
I scored “The Notebook” a loose leafed 5 out of 10
