Posted by
Conservative Swordfighters Club on Thursday, June 12, 2008 8:10:36 AM
This love story, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, has a pretty good “framing” story: In an old folks home, a kind old man reads from a notebook to an old woman with Alzheimer’s. What he reads is the main story of the movie: the love affair between a handsome man and an exceptionally beautiful woman which starts in 1940 when they are in their teens.
But despite good period costumes, convincing sets, some good cinematography, and some good images and moments, the story ultimately fails, and I can’t recommend it.
Unless you are a liberal or a female. If you are, you may very well disagree with my assessment. And if you’re a both a liberal and a female then it’s likely you will disagree with me.
Three story events that ruin the movie for me:
Early on the two protagonists, Noah and Allie, are about to engage in an act that may result in her pregnancy when they are rudely interrupted by her outraged parents. That’s fine. What is bad is that this interruption is shown as a bad thing – akin to coming between Romeo and Juliette. Sorry, filmmakers, but I see stopping pre-marital sex between teens as a good thing.
Seven years later, Allie is about to marry Lon when she discovers Noah again and they fall into each other’s arms and have wild sex at his place. Noah goes out to get breakfast. Allie hears what she thinks is Noah returning but it’s actually her scandalized mother at the door. So far so good. But then Mrs. Hamilton reveals to her daughter that she too had a summer fling with a boy “from the wrong side of the tracks” when she was Allie’s age. Okay, so I think that this may not be bad; it may be the filmmakers making Allie’s mother into a more well-rounded character, even if it will send her daughter mixed messages about Noah. But it’s worse than that. Mrs. Hamilton actually implies that she regrets not following through with that long ago love affair. Then she gives Allie all the love letters from Noah that she had intercepted at the mailbox seven years ago. Well, that’s not even a mixed message; rather it’s a full-on message in favor of Noah, a reversal which goes against everything Mrs. Hamilton has done up to this point in the story. Sometimes character reversals are good; not this time.
Then, in the very next scene, Noah utters the dreaded “follow your heart” line:
After the visit from her mother, Allie tells Noah she is having second thoughts about getting back together with him and they have an argument:
Allie: “I made a promise to a man! He gave me a ring and I gave him my word!”
Noah: “This is not about keeping your promise! And it’s not about following your heart! It’s about security… Money! He’s got a lot of money!”
Noah (and the filmmakers) clearly think that “following your heart” is a good thing. Not I.