'Dear John' a disappointment to novelist's fans
By Joanne Santomauro
After experiencing tear-inducing movies like "A Walk to Remember" and "The Notebook," Nicholas Sparks fans undoubtedly expected Lasse Hallström's "Dear John" to be no less than a film worthy of full Kleenex box consumption. To my frustration, the only sad thing about this movie was that I had to sit through all 105 minutes of it.
The movie is based on Nicholas Sparks' novel. Like many of Sparks' stories, "Dear John" takes place in South Carolina, in a small beach-town. Channing Tatum ("Fighting", "Step Up") plays John Tyree, a member of the United States Armed Special Forces.
The movie begins during his two-week hiatus from service, when he meets an angelic blonde girl named Savannah, played by Amanda Seyfried ("Mamma Mia," "Mean Girls"). In standard rom-dram format, the relationship opens with Savannah as a damsel in distress. She accidentally knocks her purse off the pier and into the sea. Luckily enough, a glistening, shirtless John witnesses the incident, and without hesitation, dives into the blue to save the day. The rest is history.
After exchanging about fifteen awkwardly paced sentences, Savannah and John fall in love. They spend every waking moment together, splashing around in the ocean and holding hands in the park like all young lovers should. They often have dinner with John's father, a quiet, resigned man who collects coins. Savannah suggests that he may have a mild case of autism. At this, John becomes enraged, and they have their first real argument.
Of course, he's leaving soon, so they have to get over it. John's impending departure places an unsettling weight on the relationship. After a tearful goodbye, John heads off to serve the army, letter from Savannah in hand.
The letter asks John to promise to tell Savannah everything that happens to him and to keep writing -- and writing...and writing. They exchange hundreds of letters over the years, and Hallström manages to lump these exchanges into some sort of plot. I won't give away any endings, but know that any Sparks story wouldn't be complete without a little hope, mental disorder and death.
The acting is mediocre. Tatum, though drool-worthy, is a limited actor. But that doesn't present much of a problem in "Dear John"; he plays the same type of angry, resentful character that he did in "Step Up" and "Coach Carter." Seyfried, on the other hand, is extremely talented, but her character in "Dear John" barely scratches the surface of her abilities. Her lines are redundant and cliché--traits that can be good in some romantic films but don't work in this one.
Over the Valentine's Day weekend, many Santa Clara students saw this film. Avid Nicholas Sparks fan Jackie Fuhrman was disappointed by "Dear John."
"It suffered greatly in comparison to 'The Notebook,'" Fuhrman said.
Freshman Emmy Quinn saw the film with her best girl friends over the three-day weekend.
"Channing Tatum isn't a very good actor, but he's hot so it doesn't matter," Quinn said.
Quinn read the novel as well.
"The story of 'The Notebook' is much better than 'Dear John'...so book or movie, I still like 'The Notebook' better."
Overall, this film was below par. The story has great potential, but the movie was delivered painfully and slowly, with a couple anticlimactic twists that were unnecessary to the plot's development.
Tatum is not an exciting actor, and Seyfried deserved a better script than this.
If you have an hour and a half to spare, and yearn to watch a rich, heartbreaking film about true love's pain, steer clear from "Dear John" and pick up a copy of "The Notebook" instead.
Contact Joanne Santomauro at jsantomauro@scu.edu or at (408) 554-1918.