Heartwarming, heart-wrenching, poignant, emotional, conniving, manipulative and forceful romance tale based on the vastly successful best seller by novelist Nicholas Sparks tells the story of two young lovers (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) who fall for each other in rural Seabrook, North Carolina over one faithful summer in 1940. Naturally there are problems galore though as Gosling is a commoner who works at the local lumberyard and has no real prospects while McAdams is a socialite just visiting for the summer. Soon it is apparent that she is going to be heading for the women's college Sarah Lawrence in New York City when the season is over. Her parents (caricature David Thornton and the always brilliant Joan Allen) are cold for the most part as they know that Gosling is way beneath their social standing. The typical romance between the classes becomes strained and it becomes apparent that the relationship may not work out. Gosling does not fret though as he swears to write to McAdams everyday. As time passes, the U.S. involvement in World War II forces Gosling and best friend Kevin Connolly (a real scene stealer) to go to Europe to fight for Patton's Allied Forces. Meanwhile McAdams volunteers as a nurse in New York while attending school and instantly injured army man James Marsden falls in love with her. A short courtship, and the fact that he is from a wealthy southern family that her parents approve of, endears him to McAdams. She also falls in love with him, finally putting the hurt of her time with Gosling behind her (she never knows that Gosling's letters are intercepted by Allen). Gosling returns from war and his loving father (a fine turn by the excellent Sam Shepard) has sold his home so Gosling can buy and fix up an old dilapidated house from the area. Gosling's promise to McAdams to repair the old mansion during their summer fling drives him to brilliant work, but self-destructive emotional tendencies. He drinks uncontrollably, sheds himself from others and has a loveless physical relationship with young war widow Jamie Brown (in a well-timed and very convincing role). A crazy twist of fate then leads McAdams back to North Carolina. She finally starts to rekindle the immense love she once felt for him while his love for her continues to burn as bright as ever. We all know that there are consequences abound for McAdams though as she is now engaged to Marsden and still falls in line when confronted by her domineering mother. The whole story goes on through flashbacks as in the present-day a kind elderly man (arguably James Garner's crowning achievement) reads to a fellow nursing home occupant (Gena Rowlands) who is suffering through Alzheimer's Disease. The titled item is read to Rowlands everyday by Garner in the hopes that she will always be reminded of the story and hopefully always moved by it. My goodness "The Notebook" is an emotionally charged candy cane of near epic proportions that is so sweet that you might get diabetes watching it. The film does its best to persuade and make the audience feel the way it wants you to feel that it turns those watching into slaves to the story. So help me, I liked being a slave to this picture. It is not near as complicated and creative a story as it would make itself out to be, but it knows exactly which buttons to push and when to push them as the old Hollywood formula (which has been around since the late-1910s in the cinema) sucks its viewers in. This film is not as good as many wonderful romances of the past (everything seems mixed here from "Casablanca" to "It's a Wonderful Life" to "Summer of '42" to "Annie Hall" to "Cinema Paradiso" to "Titanic" to "Love Actually" and everything else in-between), but it will still grab and hug at you tightly. Nick Cassavetes (Rowlands' real-life son) is a deceptively clever director that knows how to use tone and varying film-making principles to literally move his audience at will just as he would move his characters to perform in certain ways. No doubt there are shortcomings and flaws here as the movie runs too long and sometimes talks down to its audience. But with these things said the project is a smashing success that serves its purpose. Garner and Rowlands are amazing as they have basically a table-tennis match of roles when on screen. Gosling (best known as one of Denzel Washington's players in "Remember the Titans") and McAdams (who has a credit list of ho-hum films like "The Hot Chick") do definitely have a heated chemistry that pulls you in almost immediately and never lets you go. The other actors are all perfectly placed with Shepard and Allen providing stellar screen-time and Brown (in admittedly a relatively small role) showing the makings of an individual who has the potential to have an exciting film career. Beautifully scripted by Jeremy Leven (maybe a bit too beautifully done if possible), "The Notebook" will engrave itself on you. 4 stars out of 5.
Review of The Notebook
