Dear John is based on the book by Nicholas Sparks, who also wrote The Notebook. These two movies have more similarities than I thought. Besides part of its plot being the same, the formula used to adapt Nicholas Sparks’ novels is repetitive, which causes the movies to be predictable. It is simply too slow of a pace and the movies become boring. I was not a big fan of The Notebook and I am not a fan of this. There are parts that show signs of what Dear John could have been, but it just was not that good in the end.
The story begins on the shores of Charleston, North Carolina. Two weeks during the summer, John (Channing Tatum) and Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) meet and begin this almost decade-long romance. John is on leave from the Army and Savannah is on school break. So they agree that after John is done with his 12-month enlistment, he will come back and they will be together forever. But until then, they will write each other everyday and tell each other everything. How sweet right?
Well, if you thought that after 12 months he comes back and they live happily ever after, then you do not know how Sparks’ storytelling goes. John and Savannah meet in the summer of 2001. And that September 11th changed John and Savannah’s plans to be together. I will stop there because they do see each other a few times, but it is because of tragedies that occur. So the movie will try to make you cry, but you’ll see these events coming before they happen, especially if you have read Sparks before.
The parts I really enjoyed involve John and his father (Richard Jenkins) and their relationship. It is the best part of the entire movie. Of all the things that happen in the movie, their situation is the saddest. It has always been the two of them and as John grew up, they grew apart. Their friendship and all communication broke down. And I really bought their chemistry and their troubles of understanding one another. Whether that is because Jenkins is so good or Tatum and Jenkins were just cast perfectly, it works. The relationship between father and son is the most interesting and heartfelt of all the relationships in the movie.
I am surprised how Dear John turned out because it’s directed by Lasse Hallström. He has directed great films like The Hoax, Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. All of those films have a great story and terrific depth in story and characters, but Hallström played this one so plain and bland. It is a little disappointing to see a great director just settle on a movie. He did not lower the project, but he did not elevate it either.
I don’t really have any complaints about the performances either. Tatum and Seyfried did a nice job and there was chemistry there onscreen. However, the story does not let the two dive into their relationship and have some depth to their romance. The movie goes at such a fast pace that everything feels underdeveloped. The characters fall in love in two weeks and then they spend most of seven or eight years apart. All of this just flies by you.
Dear John wants to tug on your heart and bring out the tissues. They throw death, autism, cancer, and war at their characters and at the audience so you will feel sad, but it does not work. For one, it is expected and that formula is nothing new in a genre such as this. Also, hardly anything comes off as real or genuine due to the flow of the movie. It is tough to make a movie feel long, and yet not devote enough time to the story. So congrats, I guess.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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