The Notebook (2004)

Summary: Duke (James Garner) reads a love story to another patient at the retirement residence, Allie (Gena Rowlands), everyday because she suffers from senile dementia. It is the WWII-era love story of Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) and Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams).

Bet you didn’t see that one coming, did ya?

Yes, I know that the Nicholas Sparks’ novel that I saw adapted into a movie (A Walk to Remember), I hated. No, you don’t have to rush to its defence saying, “that’s a true story, child” (direct quote from my mother).

I also know that I said that I think the words “based on a true story” act as a magic elixir to separate my money from my bank account. I believe that true stories have a certain electricity to them in film that fiction will never manage to capture.

But allow me to clarify my statement. Just because a story is true doesn’t mean it should be a movie. For example, I had some laughs last night. In fact, I had plenty of good laughs. Should I write a comedy about it? Of course not.

With A Walk to Remember, it was so sickeningly sweet that I couldn’t bear to watch it. I did, however, watch all of it and more than once, as I am prone to do with many movies good and bad.

So why did I bother with this adaptation? Several reasons, actually.

1) Gena Rowlands. Do I even need to clarify this one? She’s incredible, lovely, and wild.

2) James Garner. I’m not even going to explain this one. I’m just not.

3) At some point, when I wasn’t paying attention, Ryan Gosling grew up. I suspected as much with his electric and homoerotic star turn in Murder by Numbers (bad movie), but, now, I must confess, I want to see more of him.

4) Rachel McAdams. She was great in the miniseries Slings and Arrows, and I thought she might be great here, too.

5) Joan Allen, Sam Shepard, and James Marsden.

6) Fahrenheit 9/11 was sold out.

So, what did I get? Pleasantly surprised, actually.

I’ve never been a big fan of Nick Cassavetes’s over-the-top direction or of Jeremy Leven’s sappy screenplays. I do, however, like that Cassavetes puts his mom (Rowlands) in all his movies.

Nevertheless, I found myself actually wanted to believe, if only for x minutes, in places that beautiful, in love that true.

I think when you make a movie, that’s all you can hope for. You hope that someone, somewhere, for a fleeting instance, believes.