The pain and longing of separation, the difficulty of communicating feelings, and the backdrop of the east coast seashore make Dear John, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, an endearing and slightly sappy movie of a young couple struggling to remain together after a two-week period left them deeply in love. Channing Tatum (John) and Amanda Seyfried (Savannah) depict two young teenagers from different backgrounds who haphazardly meet one summer.
The stereotypical “love at first sight” leads to a romance with plenty of bumps and bruises , as John, an enlisted soldier, is sent oversees while Savannah goes off to college. Determined to remain together, they begin a long series of numbered letters to learn more about each other. Set around the early 2000s, the tragic event of September 11 causes John to remain oversees longer than he originally anticipated. Savannah struggles with the re-enlistment, as it means more years of separation. The letters continue and the love remains, until Savannah suddenly decides to cut off contact.
Distraught, John thrusts himself into his military duties, and for years thereafter, attempts to forget his love. After several years, he returns to the states to discover Savannah married to a terminally-ill neighbor, and his father is ailing in his health. After many years of separation, the two ex-lovers attempt to patch things up between them. Will John and Savannah ever solve their differences and be together once again? Or is love at first sight destined to simply fade as the years wear on?
Unfortunately, I am not a sucker for sappy movies-never have been and never will be. Nonetheless, Dear John was a bittersweet experience that needed just a little more oomph to keep me interested. Tatum’s washboard abs kept me glued to the screen but his mediocre acting skills left something to be desired. Meanwhile, Seyfried remains as gorgeous as ever and was perfectly cast as the sweet girl-next-door. Together, the two have some chemistry, but nothing compares to the original The Notebook. The plot was decent, but nothing unexpected happened between the two characters that I found particularly surprising. Despite the average plot, I know several of my friends were tearing up at multiple parts, and not just because John’s abs were glistening in the sunlight after a mid-day surfing outing. Touching moments are found throughout the movie, but are sometimes slightly overdone. Drawn out for more than a couple minutes, what is at first poignant in the movie would sometimes turn into sappy.
A couple of tidbits with some of the supporting characters helped spice up the plot-even if it was just a little bit. Savannah reveals John’s father to be autistic, opening a small window into the hardships that the single, autistic, coin-collecting father had raising a rebellious young John. The relationship between the two remains a mere side plot, but the small kernel of familial love tugged at my heart strings.
Overall, the movie is a nice cuddler on Valentine’s Day, or any other day in these dreary weeks of February. Prepare some tissues if you are a crier or bring some popcorn if you are a little less emotional like me. I can’t reveal the ending, but will say that it was the biggest disappointment of the entire movie. Whether love can flourish after a two-week affair remains to be seen, but one thing remains certain-love brings some of the happiest and saddest times in our lives.