review: dear john

Synopsis: A romantic drama about a soldier who falls for a conservative college student while he’s home on leave. (imdb.com).

I haven’t read the book and usually I prefer to do so before watching a film adaptation. But a long time ago I’d sworn off Nicholas Sparks books after I read his first four and realized the blatant formula behind them (I may give him another shot though). So I couldn’t compare the two versions. But I figured, Amanda Seyfried is a pretty good actress and Channing Tatum is just pretty, so why not?

Here’s what I thought:

• I’ll admit it – Channing Tatum surprised me in this movie. Whenever I’d catch clips of his “emotional” scenes during commercials and trailers, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. But within the context of the film, he was.. dare I say? Decent. There was one scene in particular with his father that I found very moving.
• Amanda Seyfried was good as expected and I really liked her character (despite some, well one, baffling choice).
• As a couple, I found their chemistry to be very realistic and natural. I’ve heard a lot of people compare them to The Notebook’s Allie & Noah and thus found them lacking, but I disagree. Their chemistry was just as palpable but in a different (quiet?) way.

Overall: Not a groundbreaking romantic drama but enjoyable all the same. I liked the hopeful note that it ended on.