Dear John (2010)

Rated PG-13 for some sensuality and violence.
105 Minutes

Directed By: Lasse Hollstrom
Written By: Jamie Linden
Based On The Novel By: Nicholas Sparks
Staring: Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins, Henry Thomas, D.J. Cotrona, Cullen Moss, and Gavin McCulley

Review

I actually made a theatre appearance for this one with a dear girlfriend of mine.  Is Dear John a basket case of chick flick obviousness?  Well……..it may be included as a chick flick, but it wasn’t as obvious or manipulative as movies in this genre often are, and while it wasn’t as sappy as “The Notebook” or as Machiavellian as “Nights In Rodanthe” it did have it’s moments of overwhelming sentimentality, but in a way that worked and gave it some legitimacy.

Tatum and Seyfrieds chemistry is what made this movie something worth watching.

What compelled me to see a movie like this at the theater of all places?  I posted earlier about a trailer often making a movie seem worthwhile, and Dear John’s being an example of one really well done.  Between the music and the short bits of the story it certainly had my attention.  Tragedy and loss was foreshadowed, but not in a way that gave the story away too much.  Amanda Seyfried was a bonus as I’m compelled to see anything with her giant emoting eyes, even though Channing Tatum has done nothing but disappoint me for the last few years.  I fully expected a performance that had Dolph Lundgren qualities with the blank stare with a thought that could only be as complicated as, “Ham Sandwich”.  Seyfried delivered and Tatum used his simplistic attributes to placate to his character’s mystery, which in turn came across as authentic.

The plor line itself could have you grumbling reading it on paper.  Two young people meet each other on a summer beach fun extravaganza.  The girl, Savannah, seems all too perfect, sweet, innocent, and good hearted.  The guy, our “John”, is a recovering bad boy only displaying allusions to his prior less than savory behaviors, but the two somehow fall for each other.  What follows is the adventure of their love when thrown into the circumstances of war, time, and unforeseen tragedies.  The theme is diabolically melancholy and built to tug at sentimentalists by constantly giving glimpses of those wondrous “two weeks” to remind you of what once was.

As contrived and insanely contorted as things unravel they aren’t entirely predictable, and the first thirty minutes of Seyfried and Tatum spending those advertised “two weeks” was thoroughly enjoyable.  There is nothing wrong with a movie actually giving the “fall” into love it’s due time.  At least then, when you are being asked to emotionally invest in the relationship you feel like the connection between those characters is real, and Tatum and Seyfried sold their affections as genuine.  The chemistry between the two was sweetly awkward capturing an authentic representation of young love making the rest of their journey actually matter.

Unless you’ve read the book or had a heads up and see the movie with fresh eyes like I did you don’t anticipate exactly where things go.  Sure, there is going to be death, tragedy of some kind, or starcrossed affections, but the hows and whys and even who’s are not lined up in your beat by beat romance.  What I actually enjoyed most was how remarkably realistic the relationships evolve and the choices the characters make are.  Even love at it’s best is not easy.  Put distance, war, and no real sense of a foundation for that relationship mixed with youth and inexperience in life together, and things turn out messy.  The main theme of timing being everything felt very Emily Bronte to me, but also captured the reasons why young love or first love resonates so deeply and so lasting with people.

Dear John certainly had it’s moments of typical mush and gush, and had a lot of events created solely for the purpose of making you squirm or cry, but what surprised me was how interesting the characters were and how the journey’s of their lives, circumstances, and choices changed them forever.  The end is unfortunately awkward and abrupt.  The story deserved a more honest conclusion, but it had it’s relevance.  Maybe I’m in the spirit of the heart shaped month, or maybe I’m getting more in touch with my girlie feelings with age, or maybe Dear John was just a decent old fashioned romance movie that overall I liked.

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