The Notebook (New Line Platinum Series) Reviews

• During the throes of Winter, remembering Spring

  
  By A2DSXA1E02C86D on 2004-07-01
  THE NOTEBOOK is an old-fashioned love story with the topical subject of Alzheimer's Disease thrown in to heighten the Hankie Factor.

  The film opens in the present at a genteel, riverside, Southern facility for the long-term care of the aged. An old man, "Duke" (James Garner), is in the habit of reading from a book to an elegant, but chronically confused and distant, lady (Gena Rowlands) of equal antiquity. The story concerns two teenagers during a hot, carefree, South Carolina summer preceding World War II. They are (in extended flashback) Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) and Allie (Rachel McAdams).

  Noah, working in the local sawmill, is the uneducated son of a dirt-poor father (Sam Shephard). Allie, in these months before she's off to a prestigious New York college, is the only daughter of snobbishly wealthy parents, John (David Thornton) and Anne (Joan Allen) Hamilton.

  The book's plot is that hoary one about two young lovers of disparate backgrounds and financial resources, who are subsequently separated by circumstances, objection and obstruction by the wealthy parents, and the subsequent engagement of one to another - in this case, Allie to a devilishly handsome and perfectly decent, rich, young, Army officer wounded during WWII, whom she meets while serving as a volunteer nurse in a Stateside military hospital. Will Noah and Allie ever get back together? That's what Duke's lone listener wants to know.

  At midpoint point in this review, and midway through the film, it should be apparent that Duke and his lady friend are Noah and Allie in the winter of their lives. The latter is now suffering from Alzheimer's and only occasionally recognizes her husband, who reads her the story of their courtship over and over in the hope of stimulating her memory.

  THE NOTEBOOK is an engaging love story that even Guys might enjoy. I did. James Garner is one of the most beloved screen veterans, and Ryan Gosling as Noah's younger self is totally likable. McAdams as Allie is effervescent and positively radiant. As a period piece, i.e. that part taking place before and immediately after the war, it's sumptuously photographed with contemporary costumes, hairstyles, music, and lots of vintage automobiles. And the sequence shot in the sunken forest amidst the migrating waterfowl was breathtaking in its beauty.

  The film does stumble occasionally. While Joan Allen is superb as the witch mother you love to hate, at least until she reveals a secret of her own late in the movie, the John Hamilton character is a virtual non-entity. And I didn't believe his moustache for a second. (It reminded me of the beards in the Civil War epic GETTYSBURG.) Then, in a very brief sequence showing Noah off at war with Patton's Third Army, he barely bats an eye when his best friend is killed. What was that all about? Finally, the Hollywood ending, written by a screenwriter who must have wet him/herself out of giddiness in the melodrama of the moment, was absurd. Under the circumstances, such a passing is a good trick if one can pull it off, but it's sadly not the case, I fear, for most people in Real Life. Just ask Nancy Reagan.

  I doubt that THE NOTEBOOK will receive any Oscar nominations, except for perhaps adapted screenplay (from the novel). But the admission price is still money well spent if you're weary of special FX-laden silliness and you want to see a couple of aging pros, Garner and Rowlands, before they, too, leave us. And girls, take an entire box of Kleenex.
  
  

• (4 1/2 ) A Well Acted, Old Fashioned, Romantic Tearjerker

  
  By AVGGEAI1YGSAP on 2004-07-08
  This screen adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' bestseller is a deeply emotional story of young love, the process of maturity, the crucial choices in our lives, and the frailty of old age. I have not read the book, and thus cannot comment upon the fealty of this film to Sparks' manuscript, but its emotional tone and import is certainly consistent with his other works with which I am familiar. In the opening scene we meet Duke (James Garner), who resides in a nursing home and apparently spends most of his time befriending another resident there, Allie Calhoun (Gena Rowlands), who is captivated by a 1940's story of young love which he reads in installments to her from THE NOTEBOOK which is his constant companion. Allie is suffering from some variety of dementia and these interludes provide some small comfort to an otherwise apparently colorless and bland existence.

  The moviegoer is then transported to the 1940's, and the relatively brief appearances of the elderly Duke's and Allie alternate within the film with the enactment of the story contained in THE NOTEBOOK. That story is centered in Seabrook, N.C., where a local young man named Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) is captivated by a beautiful summer visitor from Charleston named Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams). (Of course, the viewer immediately wonders if indeed this notebook contains the story of the elderly Allie's life, and if so what part Duke will play.) As you no doubt have guessed, since this is an old fashioned romance they eventually fall in love. The relationship is eventually ended by Allie's mother Anne (wonderfully played by Joan Allen), who, in order to separate her society daughter from the local boy whose career aspirations are success in the local lumberyard, forces an early family return to Charleston to prepare for Allie's freshman year at college. (Do not judge Anne Hamilton too early in this film, however!)

  The war years intervene, and Noah, with the help of his poetry loving small town father Frank (Sam Shepard) who has taught him to appreciate the beauty of Walt Whitman's work, withdraws into himself and concentrates on the restoration of the tumbledown waterfront mansion that he had once hoped to share with Allie. Meanwhile, she meets and gradually becomes attracted to a wounded veteran, Lon ( James Marsden); since he is both handsome and rich their eventual marriage seems preordained. However, fate intervenes with a wonderfully deft touch and suddenly the lives of Allie and Noah intersect again. We then watch as Allie is forced to decide whether someone can recapture their past or if only the memories remain after the fork in the road has been taken? Her dilemma is clear, Lon is the apparent right choice, yet - her wonderful interlude with Noah never had a proper conclusion.

  This is a movie to attend when you want to bathe in your sentimentality, yet there are enough bittersweet moments to keep the viewer from being overwhelmed by the sickly sweetness that often is the result of such cinematic ventures. The acting is excellent, the story is told with restraint, and the cinematography is wonderful. My favorite visual scene was when Noah takes Allie out in a boat on the lake to his secret spot with all the swans; I found it breathtakingly beautiful. Interestingly enough, despite the film's two hour length most of the audience stayed in their seats talking or contemplating the conclusion when it ended and the credits rolled. Why not five stars? Two reasons, first, I am not sure that the movie quite achieves my usual criteria for that rating, wanting to own the DVD and view it multiple times. Second, I found the conclusion a little too contrived in an attempt to bring closure to both the characters and the audience. One final note, read the inscription on the flyleaf of THE NOTEBOOK carefully at the conclusion, it completely explains the origin and its power to entrance Allie.(...)
  
  

• Not unless your name is Shakespeare

  
  By ANMM4EU21DWM6 on 2005-02-10
  A word and a warning to writers everywhere: Don't have your two primary characters literally lie down and die together unless your name is William Shakespeare. That technique simply doesn't work for lesser talents. I have rarely witnessed such a maudlin, dismal display. If there were an Oscar category for "most depressing," this juvenile, completely implausible exercise in tedium would be a shoo-in.
  
  

• One of the Best Love Stories of All Time

  
  By A3BIWTN2DA0YY2 on 2004-07-04
  THE NOTEBOOK has long been my favorite of Nicholas Sparks' many books, so it is a happy surprise to me that the wonderful story transferred to the big screen with all the sweetness, warmth, and tenderness that made the book a runaway best seller.

  The best part of this movie was the incredible chemistry between Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling as the young lovers Allie and Noah. Their story was told by an elderly couple in a nursing home. James Garner and Gena Rowlands were outstanding as the devoted "Duke" and the woman with irreversible dementia. As Duke recounted the story of Allie and Noah from the notebook he carried with him, the lady's memory began to come back and she could remember.

  The movie always changes the book but the one major change (the ending) which had the audience letting out a collective gasp and reaching for the nearest tissue was, in my opinion, really good even if it was pure Hollywood melodrama.

  Why does a movie like THE NOTEBOOK appeal to so many? Is it that every woman longs for a man who loves as deeply as Noah? Is it that every one wants a love that transcends all problems---those of class, education, family objection----and lasts forever? Or just maybe in a world of high-tech gizmos and high security alerts, it's nice to get back to basics with a really good love story....and this is definitely that.
  
  

• Sweet, Sappy, Romantic, Beautiful

  
  By A26XPNBICXR6QL on 2004-06-14
  I got to see the sneak preview of this movie this past Saturday (6/12/04) and I absolutely loved it. I've seen Ryan Gosling on television before (Breaker High), but I hadn't seen Rachel McAdams until now. Their characters were so real and so believable. Even though the end may be predictable, this film lacks the typical structure of most romantic movies I've seen. It was interesting to see how the characters evolved and came together.

  The film begins with James Garner reading pages out of a notebook to alzheimer(?) patient Gena Rowlands. As the story unfolds, we meet Allie and Noah. Allie comes from a wealthy Southern family. Noah works in the lumber yard. We see their joys as well as their struggles. Though they seem like complete opposites, they fall in love only to be torn apart when Noah leaves for World War 2 and Allie becomes engaged to another man.

  I won't spoil the ending, but the two lovers reunite and Allie is faced with the decision of whether to keep her promise to her fiance or to go back to the man she left behind.
  
  

• Second Worst Movie Ever
  By A2FNA5903D9E6Y on 2005-03-28
  The worst movie ever was Popeye with Robin Williams but that's a whole other thing. I'd have given The Notebook a lower rating but unfortunately, wasn't given the option for a 0 (or lower). The acting was terrible (Ryan Gosling in particular). The story was sappy. I think that for a 1940s period piece, the characters were portrayed in too modern a fashion - in the language in particular. The "loving" relationship between the two main characters during their youth wasn't really a nice one (if that's love, may God strike me loveless) and was completely the opposite of the couple in their older years. How Gena Rowlands, James Garner, Joan Allen, and Sam Shepherd ended up in something this bad is mind boggling. It's scary how many saps out there actually liked, excuse me "LOVED" this film and raved about it. Ick. I mean dying together at the exact same time? Give me a break. What kind of a world are we living in? The best review is the one where the guy said "Not unless you're Shakespeare." I'm with him.
  
  
• Maudlin Manipulator Merits Mediocrity
  By A2EWA6WBOJO1QC on 2005-03-23
  Cloyingly sweet tear-jerker that overflows with sentimentality that left this reviewer feeling emotionally manipulated. The first 20 minutes or so are soporifically boring as the two main characters meet and slowly fall in love. After that, the plot moves forward at a more rigorous pace. However, the plot revolves around the standard "rich girl-poor boy" device that has been done many times before, including their separation and reunion many years later. Then comes the dilemma of the woman having to choose between her current fiance and her previous lover. Snore.
  
  
  What is somewhat redeeming are the terrific performances by James Garner and Gena Rowlands who play the lovers in their old age. The ending is contrived, but will wrench tears from you nonetheless. Recommended for those seeking a romantic cry-fest.
  
  
• Rachel McAdams should go far as a versatile actress.
  By A4RVK8GGKXLW0 on 2004-10-25
  I can't really give this more than two stars, for several reasons. For one thing it gratuituously tells us repeatedly that a romantic couple who are its subject didn't get along, not to mention that how their romance started in the first place is improbable and hokey to the hilt. It even throws in some disappointing scens of ugly fighting to prove its gratuitous point that the couple didn't get along. But the main reasons why this movie is overall disappointing relate to a central secret, concealed for a while. But the secret becomes all too obvious by at least halfway through the movie. Then the movie becomes overlong, ponderous, and sourly sentimental.
  But the silver lining to this cloud is how the movie brilliantly showcases the stunning talents of Rachel McAdams. May she go on to exercise those talents fruitfully in many a movie, unlike all to many contemporary actresses! She puts herself so completely into her role herein as to resemble in no way her villainous but equally well-acted Regina George. How refreshingly versatile in an age when we have actresses like Ashley Judd, who seems to insist on always playing essentially the same obnoxious "ball-buster" in all her movies! I can't remember another case of a performer taking on such divergent roles as Rachel McAdams has in her last two movies, so as to challenge audiences to believe they are actually watching the same actress in both. I hope the movie-making world fittingly values her talents and does not let them be wasted. But that is iffy in a world and age where an actress such as Kirsten Dunst can go from a performance that should have won an Oscar in DROP DEAD GORGEOUS to being so gratuitously and egregiously de-flowered in THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and then to doing little else than fluff in anything since. May Rachel fare much better than that!
  
  
• Good book, AWFUL movie!
  By A3KEZLJ59C1JVH on 2006-06-07
  This movie is SO BAD! "The Notebook" is a great example of how Hollywood imbeciles can destroy a perfectly good novel when they attempt to turn it into a film. Nicholas Sparks' novel is a very poignant love story about Allie and Noah, two people who fall in love as teenagers in the early 1940s. Allie's parents do not approve of the relationship because Noah comes from a poor family, and so the young couple is torn apart. Years later, right before Allie is about to marry another man, she sees a photo of Noah in a newspaper and decides to pay him one last visit. Noah and Allie realize that the love they once felt for each other is still very much alive, and Allie must decide whether to return home to her fiance or follow her heart and be with Noah.
  
  What makes the story so original is that it is actually told in a series of flashbacks. Eighty-year-old Noah is reading the story to his wife, Allie, who is in a hospital suffering from the advanced stages of Alzheimer's. Allie can barely remember her husband anymore, and Noah is trying to trigger her memory by telling her all about their relationship.
  
  Sparks' novel is beautifully written, but unfortunately there's nothing beautiful about the movie. First of all, the script is an absolute nightmare. I don't understand how it's possible to muck up a book that's only 200 pages long, but whoever adapted the screenplay managed to find a way. All of the tenderness from Sparks' novel is lost in the film version. I also think the casting of the movie is terrible. Rachel McAdams is pretty bad as Allie, but her performance is dazzling compared to Ryan Gosling's, who is simply AWFUL! When you read Sparks' novel, you instantly become attached to the characters of Noah and Allie and can sense that there is something very special about both of them. There is NOTHING special about the characters in the movie. Allie just kind of takes up space on the screen, and Noah is incredibly wishy-washy...why on earth would any woman choose to be with him? (And the guy's supposed to be a poet?! COME ON!)
  
  I also hated the way that the relationship between Allie and Noah was chopped up onscreen. In the book, Allie is very timid when she arrives at Noah's house and it takes her a long time to overcome her shyness and open up to him. In the movie, the characters are going at it in the foyer about five minutes after Allie arrives at the house. There's nothing beautiful or romantic about it at all...it was just plain trashy and disgusting to watch.
  
  James Garner and Gena Rowlands both deliver decent performances playing Noah and Allie when they're older, but I thought that whole aspect of the story was adapted very poorly for the movie. Noah is supposed to be in pretty frail health at age 80, but Garner was running around and dancing up a storm...he was a more lively Noah than Ryan Gosling was when he was playing Noah at age 30! Also, with the exception of the little episode Allie has after dancing with Noah about five minutes before the end of the film, I thought that the film really glossed over the true nature of Alzheimer's. Older Allie wouldn't have looked so "together" for most of the movie, and Noah would have been much frailer. Why couldn't the film depicted aging and disease as honestly as Sparks did in the book?
  
  I could go on and on about the other things I hated about this movie: so much material was cut from the book and so many stupid scenes were added for no apparent reason. (That bit with Allie and her mom looking spying on that man at the construction site...where did THAT come from? And what was up with having Allie meet Noah's sort-of girlfriend?) However, to continue to elaborate on this would be a waste of my time. Here's my advice: DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE! Read the book instead...you'll be glad you did.
  
  
• 2 HOURS OF MY LIFE WASTED THAT I WILL NEVER GET BACK....
  By ACCDZUU9HHLMK on 2005-02-09
  I waited for months for this movie to come out on DVD. A friend suggested that I read the book and I coulnt put the book down. I read it in 3 days and cried through many parts of the book. The characters in the book didn't match the movie at all. Never in the book does it portray Allie to be a rich bitch with the temper of Satan; Nor does it portray Noah to be some "bad boy" with an attitude. The book portrays Allie to be sweet, pure, innocent, and confused about her feelings. Not stuck up at all. Noah is described as a romantic boy who is totally in love with Allie. Then she comes back and he is so happy, not pissed off at her that she is toying with his emotions. If I would have never read the book, I would have been very lost and would have lost interest in this movie quick. There were many relevant parts of the book that were left out of the movie. The letter that was written by Allie once she found out about her illness so that Noah could read it when she couldn't remember him any longer. Reading it in a book had such an impact on me. The book describes a love so deep and intense, something that you only find once in your life. The movie describes a couple of teens who have a dysfuctional relationship by hitting each other and they both drank heavily through the movie.
  It takes place in the 1940's where women were not assertive as Allie was and a woman seducing a man was taboo. Most women waited until they were married to have sex and the man was always the dominant one. I do have to say that James Garner played an awesome part as the older Noah. Other than that, I didn't "feel" it like I felt it through the book.
  My condolences to Nicholas Sparks for hacking his movie and turining it into a joke.
  Joanne Kovacs
  Detroit, Michigan
  
  
• Yanking at the Heart strings of Love
  By A1S5B32WYMEE44 on 2007-02-19
  OK, so this one is aiming squarely at the "tearjerker" crowd, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. A disclaimer though, while writing this review, I have hidden my laminated man card in our personal safe and locked it and hidden the key. I have had a few punches taken out of the said 'man card' and if witnessed writing a review on the "notebook," giving it four stars, no doubt the man card police would show up at the door while writing, with the hole punch in hand and demand forfeiture of said man card. Don't worry! I think I'm safe.
  
  Now back to Nick Cassavete's "The Notebook." The plot line is acted well enough by some engaging newcomer actors, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, as the young couple Noah and Allison who fall deeply and madly in love one summer and are split apart by families, distance, socio-economic castes, etcetera. Much zaniness ensues and in the end what do you know...it becomes a movie about love and of all things aging. Gosling is kind of like a cross between Matthew McConaughey circa "How to Lose a Guy in 10 days," and Brad Pitt in "Legends of a Fall." McAdams is Mc-beautiful, charming, engaging, and laughs quite well. Yep...I've fallen in love but so does Noah and that is what the story of "The Notebook," is all about my friends.
  
  So, the flick sometimes borderlines on the edge of cheesiness and over-sentimentality but if one loosens up slightly I think girls and a few guys out there will enjoy it. Grant it, you aren't going to be inviting your friends over with a case of bud light to watch it for guy's night but hey...try it out on Valentine's Day or an anniversary with your significant or insignificant other and wallah...the movie works some magic.
  
  What elevated this one to four stars is that Cassavete's has a way with the camera. There really is some beautiful cinematography in "The Notebook." It's appealing to the eye. I also like the way the movie focuses on the issue of aging and how the power of love trumps all, even father time's brushstroke on those we love.
  
  Watch "The Notebook," preferably with your honey, honey you won't be sorry. --mmw
  
  
• Normally, I wouldn't be sucked in to these kinds of movies..
  By A3MYY88NLEJ8Y3 on 2004-07-22
  but...
  
  Having said that, I couldn't stop crying!!! This is not an exaggeration! When I first found the book, I gave it away because it was "not my type of book." Now, I'm sorry I did, because I saw the movie tonight, and it was amazing!
  
  Of course it was sappy and romantic. Of course Hollywood got a hold of it. But, the important thing is that it made me feel things I haven't felt in a long time. Made me believe it.
  
  Noah and Allie meet when they are 17, and she doesn't like him at first, but he takes her out anyway. He is from the "wrong side of the tracks," and she is just in the South for the summer. Her parents have a lot of money and he is more the down to earth type who works in a lumberyard and wants to build his own house someday.
  
  Time passes and (of course) they fall in love. But, as star crossed as Romeo and Juliet, her parents don't agree, and they take her away from him and her mom keeps his letters a secret. Every day for a year. Will she choose the privileged life where everything is decided for her, or will she make her own with Noah and break all of the rules?
  
  The story is being told by Duke, to a woman who is suffering from Dementia. He comes by every day in the hospital and reads to her.
  
  This is one of the most touching and beautiful movies I have ever seen. I have never cried so much watching a movie as I did tonight. The acting was amazing as well. Gena Rowlands and James Garner were great. The two that played Allie and Noah had so much beautiful chemistry, that I believed them! I also read that this story is loosely based on Nicolas Sparks (author) grandparents.
  
  See it, you won't be disappointed.
  
  
• I don't buy it
  By on 2006-03-22
  I don't understand how people can say that they want a relationship exactly like Noah and Allie's.
  There was hardly anything to show that they actually liked each other for their personalitites. There is even one part when they start fighting and then making out makes it all better. And they decide to get married because they have good sex??
  I just do not believe that they were really in love.
  I admit that the parts with the older Noah and Allie were cute and more believable. I also do not see the significance of the two characters dying together (I myself do not find that romantic).
  Something else that bothers me about this movie is that it shows that the "ideal" relationship begins with adultery.
  
  Of course I am not solely blaming "The Notebook" for all the problems with the way teens think about love, but it certainly supports the attitude that love=sex.
  And I don't support that.
  
  
• Great young actors
  By A13NJU9WJJ2ZSY on 2004-11-05
  The two leads, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, were absolutely superb. Nuanced and emotive acting, but unfortunately, that's about the only thing that's good about this film. If you've seen the trailer, well, then, that's all you need to watch.
  
  I know I'll probably get severely ragged on for this review, but the truth is that it's sentimental in a really saccharine and smothering way. If you're not a die-hard romantic movie fan, stay away, or you'll roll your eyes right out of their sockets.
  
  
• Now don't give me a "NO" vote just because you don't like my opinion here...
  By A2E7E9EWADK4S6 on 2006-01-15
  The Notebook was, as a romance, kinda cute and endearing in some ways but there was one point of the movie that was fatally flawed.
  
  This notion that if you LOVE SOMEONE ENOUGH you can snap them out of the Alzheimer's fog. Now what does that do to us folks in the real world who have spent years and years at the bedside of someone sinking into the abyss of Alzheimers?
  
  No doubt, the lead character is portrayed as being a truly remarkable and passionate man who loved his wife so completely that nothing could kill his love. That's all well and good and we need more movies that portray undying devotion in the face of great hardships (because life does take those turns now and again), but...
  
  If you want an honest portrayal of Alzheimer's, if you want to know what it's really like for the families and spouses coping with this, rent or buy "The Forgetting" (also at this site).
  
  In an online interview, James Garner was asked if he had any personal experience with Alzheimer's and he replied, "I had an Aunt Emma. She was funny. She couldn't remember me or my brothers or her sisters or anyone."
  
  I had an Auntie, too, and she had Alzheimer's and she couldn't remember me. For five years, I took care of her and that experience, difficult but spiritually demanding, was nothing like the character portrayed by Gena Rowlands in The Notebook.
  
  Any movie that falsely portrays Alzheimer's can't merit all the praise that this movie has been showered with.
  
  Rose Thornton
  
  
• Hopelessly sentimental and competely unforgettable
  By AZCDCO6KK2T81 on 2007-10-16
  This is the kind of film where you cringe at one moment from the stilted dialogue and then burst into tears over a love that knows no bounds the next moment.
  
  The story of young lovers forced apart by social class isn't new to literature or film and it's handled here with little regard to wanting to add anything new to the genre. The young lovers are played well enough by Gosling and MacAdams, who are nice looking and affable, but their cringe-inducing dialogue and teen angst-like behaviors get in the way of their acting abilities and the enjoyment of the story. It was all rather unbearable to start. This first third of the film nearly had me shut the DVD off, but the juxtaposed storyline of an older couple, terrifically played by Garner and Rowlands, was so well written and acted that they alone kept me interested in where the story might go and how the two couples might be connected.
  
  The second third of the film focuses on both moving on after a break up and yet still not letting go (do we ever really?). All the characters grow and develop into believable people and we sincerely care about them. Both the young lovers and the elderly couple are faced with moving on without their significant other and they are juxtaposed brilliantly here. The storyline begins to take better shape, but it is still riddled with cliches and it still suffers from a bit of over acting by the young lovers; however, the improvements are significant in this second act.
  
  The third and final act beautifully ties up the film and I really shouldn't discuss it and spoil the impact it will have on you should you manage to get past the awful first act of this film. This is one of those rare films where the ending portion truly does make up for any prior ills the film contained. The acting by both Garner and Rowlands in the final segments of the film are one of the most touching I have ever seen on film and my own eyes fill up with tears just thinking of them.
  
  My wife and I met when we were a mere 19 years old and with us now in our mid 40's we have come to so appreciate the value of our shared life. We have both experienced the tragic possibilities of living a life without the other several times, and those moments were eye-opening and frightening. Nothing can take the place of a life built together. Nothing can take the place of memories. Nothing can take the place of a deep love, and although we may be able to fall in love numerous times in our lives, nothing takes the place of being with the one person you always knew you were meant to be with for life. I know I'm as cliche-ridden right now as much of this film had been for me, but cliches became such because they do reveal truths. This film, although flawed at times, contains some of the great truths about love.
  
  Although this is an enormously uneven film with its teen angst, cliche-ridden, over-acted first third, it is followed by a more believable and better organized second third, and a final third that is unbearably touching, compassionate, and completely unforgettable. I can't think of too many films that had an ending that moved me as much as this one did. The final third makes up for any sins of the first third and that makes this one film you really must see.
  
  
• James Garner is good, in otherwise maudlin flick
  By A1ERZIZ48CBCSB on 2004-12-01
  I am giving two stars instead of zero or one because I've always loved James Garner and he does an outstanding job here...comparable but better than Henry Fonda in "On Golden Pond." Garner has more sex appeal, charisma and charm than most actors half his age and that's one of the chief problems with "The Notebook": no way, no how, does wimpy Ryan Gosling (with his blank, unexpressive face) ever grow up to become James Garner.
  
  Any tears legitimately shed here (and I am not ashamed that I cried openly) are due to Mr. Garner and the luminous Gena Rowlands. There is a lot of sentimental corniness in the roles, but the two veteran performers rise above this with sheer talent.
  
  The problem is that this is not merely an above average Lifetime TV movie about the tragedy of Alzheimer's...it's meant to be a love story reaching over half a century. In that, "The Notebook" is a soggy failure. The story of the young lovers is not moving or genuine at all, and Ryan Gosling is so flat and unconvincing that it's impossible to even feel that h is in love, or that the heroine is in love with him. Besides his awkward, stilted performance, there is a serious problem with his appearance -- it's supposed to be the 1940s, but Mr. Gosling has long shaggy "hippie" hair (and later a scruffy beard)...he is also dressed in a variety of cute clothing from J. Crew or The Gap...not remotely what any self respecting man would have worn at that time. (I am also astonished that a soldier during WWII would have been allowed to have shaggy, collar length hair.)
  
  It's also a serious detriment to the film that Mr. Gosling looks NOTHING like James Garner...nor does he have the skill to even slightly emulate the older man's distinctive speech or body language. Towards the end, we see Garner looking at some old photo albums which show the real actor as a young man...this is quite disorienting. How did Ryan Gosling -- lanky, thin, blonde with a long face -- turn into James Garner? How did his hair go from blonde to dark brown? (Even more disconcerting and confusing is that fact that James Marsden, playing the "other man", looks much more like Garner than Gosling does.)
  
  The film abounds with confusing elements, some of which are real whoppers. Gosling and heroine Allie (a radiantly beautiful Rachel McAdams) cavort on a beach with huge rocky outcroppings -- this is not remotely what the South Carolina/Georgia coastline looks like. (It was obviously filmed in California.) Gosling's character, Noah, buys a huge plantation and restores it himself...right down to quaint lighting fixtures and chi-chi wall coverings -- how does he do this, when he doesn't even have a job? Later we see the elderly Noah and Allie living in a nearly identical white mansion, also on a river...is it the same house? Was their plantation rennovated into a nursing home at some point? No answer or explanation is attempted. (It's also the poshest nursing home I have ever seen.)
  
  At another point, elderly Noah and Allie are visited by their children, whom Allie no longer can recognize...it is apparently the present day, or very recently...therefore, about 50 years after WWII and probably more. Yet their children are clearly only in their early 30s. Did Noah and Allie marry in 1947 and then wait until the early 70s to have kids????
  
  So, "The Notebook" is some pretty seriously flawed hogwash. About what I expected from the author of "Message in a Bottle" and "A Walk to Remember". It's redeemed only by James Garner and Gena Rowlands, and Rachel McAdams (showing a lot of improvement and potential talent) performances, but sunk by poor writing, a maudlin plot, tears dishonestly earned by treacle, and a performance by Ryan Gosling that ranks with the worst I have ever watched on the big screen.
  
  You can wait to watch this one when it shows up on cable.
  
  
• A Walk To Remember is Better...
  By A36MNTQ17ZO6K8 on 2005-05-06
  I am 17 years old and saw this with my mom...I wish I didn't. There were two sex scences in it, they didn't really show anything, but it was long. I could tell my mom and I were uncomfortable watching those parts together. The plot was okay, I suppose, but i didn't feel any chemistry between the two main characters, also most of it was perdictable. Basically if you like "One Tree Hill", chick flicks, or one of the actors in it, u have a chance of actually enjoying this movie, for everyone else...move on.
  
  
• I'm in the Minority!
  By A1RY6BUAFOD4E6 on 2004-07-04
  Okay. Most of the reviews I've read have been A+, and I guess I really don't understand why. I can't remember the last movie I've seen that has affected me the way this one has. I'm not sad! I'm angry.

  First, the movie bored me to death. I thought it would never end. Second, I did not--repeat NOT--find the actors/actresses appealing, especially James Garner and Gena Rowlands. Third, I felt very manipulated. I knew exactly what was going to happen from moment to moment, and just about anyone who's seen movies for years (and maybe not that many years) can figure out the ending.

  On a positive note, I did enjoy the 40s stuff: costumes, cars, etc. And for that I give it one star.
  
  

• Breathtaking
  By A215UFP1S3G2OI on 2004-10-15
  Everyone has different reasons for watching movies. There are ones with violence, ones with romance, ones with mystery, and ones with deep meaning. You sometimes pay for a movie not knowing what you will get to see. I didn't know anything about The Notebook prior to walking into the movie theatre. All I knew is I wanted something nice.
  I sat in a mostly full theatre watching this movie. Watching these actors that have been on screen many times before, watching them tell a story. Nothing struck me more than just how this was life. There was a story, one about love, but real love. The kind I watched my grandparents share and when I said my wedding vows I knew I wanted for myself. The colors in this movie, the sentiments, the feeling swept through me like I was there. I finished watching this movie with tears falling down my cheeks. Embarrassed, I looked around for a way to duck out before anybody thought I was a foolish woman for crying. But everyone else in the theatre was crying too. Even the men were wiping tears from their eyes. Husbands held their wives and girlfriends nodded in understanding. I knew then I was not alone. I haven't been so moved since watching Bridges of Madison County. I told my husband later I wish he had been there to see it. I said, everything I ever wanted out of my life with him was there, the good and the bad.
  I anxiously awaited for this movie to come out on DVD and it seems now it's been postponed until February of 2005. I will have to wait longer to buy a copy of this movie...a movie I fell in love with one summer day.
  
  
  
• A satanic, cloying, trite piece of trash
  By A24F1UX8ZT5IXY on 2005-06-22
  But great for watching Rachael McAdams walk around in 1940's C.F.M. pumps and espadrilles. It's like cross-pollenating soft-core porn with a Metamucil commercial. Truly hideous American filth.
  
  
• Worth the ticket price at the movie theater
  By on 2004-06-21
  This is an amazing love story that causes simulataneous feelings of happiness and sadness. It is a movie that I suggest people to go see in the movie theater instead of waiting for the DVD. The acting was amazing and the story line reminded me of how first true love feels.
  
  
• -*the most romantic love story since TITANIC*-
  By A1EKLTOZRLUVZF on 2004-07-01
  THE NOTEBOOK truly has to be one of the most romantic love stories ever told. It reminds you that true love is everlasting, is enduring, can come from the strangest places & can make you do crazy things, but most importantly, when you share the kind of love that Noah & Alli did, love can do anything you want it to - even create miracles.

  I loved all the characters, but Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams had the best on-screen chemistry I have seen in a long time. They look awesome together, & they are both AmAzInG actors. Ryan Gosling usually plays dark, intense characters in films such as MURDER BY NUMBERS & THE BELIEVER, and we've seen Rachel McAdams play snobby, prissy roles in films such as MEAN GIRLS & THE HOT CHICK. Though both new to the "romantic" role, they were perfect for their parts. The setting was perfect as well. It was so beautiful, & s0o0o romantic! Also, James Garner & Gena Rowlands portray the sick, aging old couple that is still madly in love wonderfully.

  This movie is one of the best I have ever seen, & I plan to see it again & buy the DVD when it is released. It will make you both laugh & cry (bring LoTs of kleenex!). Knowing that this story came from the story of Spark's wife's grandparents' love story, it makes you realize that a lot of fiction comes from real experiences, and that true, enduring love is very real. The film's message was so deep & genuine that you can't help but feel as though you're a part of the story. I highly recommend it, as well as the book (I must add that Noah Calhoun is the BeSt character Nicholas Sparks has ever created, & he has created some pretty great characters!). Both are well worth every penny that you spend! :-)
  
  

• Wow
  By A7WIT4FWF7LE7 on 2004-07-05
  Warning, do not, I repeat, do not go and see this movie if you don't wish to want to fall in love. Because, basically that's what this movie does to you. It makes you feverishly want a real life version of Noah to walk into your life. It chronicles the passionate love of youth and the delicate devotion that should come with age. I laughed, I cried(like most people in the theater did both times I saw it), and most importantly I fell in love. It was real, it was passionate, it is something everyone should see...correction, The Notebook is something everyone should feel.
  
  
• The notebook
  By A1MXI4PW1VIBRC on 2004-11-12
  This film stars Ryan Gosling as Noah and Rachel Mc Adams (The hot chick, Mean girls.) The film is funny, sad and thought provoking all at the smae time. It sends out a brilliant message that anyone can relate to. It is the best love story I have ever seen and it deserves to be remembered as 'a true mother-daughter movie, no matter what the age.' Much better than Titanic and a movie I will be sharing with others.
  
  
• Easily Forgotten
  By A3AP6H48QHX8BR on 2005-04-13
  This movie is easily forgotten. I suppose the hype is what really made me eat into this movie orginally- all my friends told me that I'd love it-since I'm a fan of chick flicks and sobby movies. I expected a lot from the movie based on the reviews from the newspapers and online but, was disappointed. This review certainly won't win me any popularity votes but, this movie will be easily forgotten and is possibley the worst movie of the year.
  
  The story is in some sort a cliche- an impossible love the girls rich(Allie) and has everything in life, while the boy(Noah) dosn't have a dime to rub together. Of course, the parents object despite the fact the kids are crazy about eachother. And of course when, they both can finally be together Allie is engaged to a rich Southern man her parents approve of. In the end of course Allie chose Noah over Lon and they live happily ever after.I found myself predicting everything in this movie and find it boring to watch. It's definately a movie I would NOT rent on girls night. While, it was cute to see Allie and Noah as an older couple it kind of ruined the whole mystery that was in the book. This movie might have kept my interest if I had been guessing or didn't know who Allie chose. And the soppish Titanic dying in bed ending also made the movie seem to sop driven instead of emotional when, it should have ended with Old Noah looking at the notebook with the words "Read this and I'll come back to you."
  
  Although some good performances emerge from the younger actors- both who I hope to see in more films. Rachel McAdams especially did a good job her face seemed to fit the period really well. The older actors seem sedated throughout this movie and both surprisly are out-shined by their young co-stars. Nick Cassavetes was the wrong choice for director of the love flick- he directed JohnQ also one of the worst movies I've ever seen. And it's no wonder his sensitive love debut failed.
  
  I suppose given the rating it has recieved on Amazon.com some people were bound to like this film but, personally even as a sob- and soppy love stories fan I found this movie tragically boring. All in all I recommend you look for another chick flick for girls night because, this one is easily forgotten.
  
  
  
  
  
• Great TRUE Story
  By A3416DSV82VFBY on 2004-06-13
  My understanding is that this is a story of Nicholas Sparks' wife's grandparents. I read the book when it was first published and saw the movie last night. I dearly loved both of them. I don't know who really wrote the book - the grandmother or Nicholas, but no matter - it's beautifully written and we got to enjoy it. I think the movie was also very beautifully written and the acting by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams was superb! I usually choose movies based on the actors rather than the story. I chose to see this movie based on the story, expecting the acting to be lacking (except for James Garner and Sam Shepherd, of course) and had a wondeful surprise! I don't think it's a "chick flick" but I couldn't talk my husband into seeing it with me. That's ok - I'll buy it and tie him to the chair in front of the TV while I watch it again and again!
  
  
• Simply beautiful!!!
  By A1DZKOOMMJM1MI on 2004-07-10
  The Notebook is a gorgeous movie, beautifully shot by Robert Fraisse and wonderfully directed by Nick Cassavetes. The film sports a terrific cast, including the likes of Ryan Gosling (superbly underrated), Rachel McAdams (on her way to becoming a star) and the brilliance of James Garner, Gena Rowlands (Nick's mother!!!), Joan Allen, and Sam Shepard. These actors are blessed with a director who knows how to work with them, bringing out fantastic performances from each and every performer, secondary and otherwise.
  
  It's a classic story of a love lost and later found, done to death in other films, but here, it works better than most. Based on Nicholas Sparks' 1996 best-seller, The Notebook revolves around the tale an elderly man (James Garner) who reads aloud to a confused woman (Gena Rowlands) who's confined to a nursing home. Though she's removed from reality by her fleeting, faded memory, she's obviously intrigued by the romance he relates. That romance begins in 1940, as 17 year-old Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams), a wealthy girl from Charleston, meets 19 year-old Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling), a local boy, at a Carnival. Impetuously, he implores her to go out with him and pesters her until she agrees. Sparks ignite the intense, overwhelming passion of their idyllic relationship. Horrified that her debutante daughter will wind up with a lumber mill worker, Allie's mother (Joan Allen) whisks her away to college. Allie's and Noah's lives take different directions during World War II., but memories linger and, seven years later, their paths cross again.

  The film does have its share of problems and can be overly sentimental at times, but they are minor quibbles that can be easily overlooked. Overall, it is a breathtaking film, emotional and powerful from the first frame to the last. The scenery is breathtaking, the costumes are perfection, and the actors become their roles, adding to the realism and emotion. It is one of the best romantic dramas to come out in years. But be warned: for those who have a heart, be ready to WEEP!
  
  

• The Most Beautiful Rendition of a Love Story
  By A2G4PRV3HZ2R9E on 2004-10-13
  I can't say it enough how much this film means to me. It was one of the most touching stories I have EVER heard. I read the book which was wonderful, but seeing it on screen helped bring out the true emotion brought forth in the story.
  I loved the way the actors were portrayed. It was not a typical love story where everything is happy and everything works out. The characters, Allie and Noah, have a unique chemistry that is believable. They have REAL moments where they fight, break up, fall in love, and also those moments where they look into each others eyes and know that everything will be ok.
  I loved the scenery, the cinemetography, the story line, and most of all, the characters. Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling are truely a once in a lifetime couple that will lift your spirits, and once again make you remember your first love.
  I can't wait to own this movie on DVD. It will definitely be a prized possession. Too bad it's not going to be released before the Christmas holidays. What's up with that!?
  
  
• WONDERFUL
  By A1QPGDAXQPQD91 on 2004-10-14
  This is the most incredible moving, cinematic, best looking film out there. The acting is superb. The story is wonderful. You will not think of getting up in the middle of this movie. What a great love story.
  
  Bring some tissue.
  
  

• A Walk to Remember
• The Notebook
• Message in a Bottle
• P.S. I Love You
• A Walk to Remember