I've got you all figured out, Mr. Sparks. You're a clever fellow. Or at least I'm sure you think you are. I can see why the ladies love you. You give them exactly what they think they want. An impossibly good looking couple. The guy, mysterious and vulnerable when plot demands it. The girl, idyllic and virginal when plot demands it. They find themselves in a love that's difficult to maintain, largely due to their own screw ups. They're surrounded by a cast of emotional cannon fodder, which Sparks can dismiss and kill off whenever he feels an emotional heartstring needs tugging on.
Channing Tatum is the guy in this case. He's a special forces soldier named John Tyree. I'm sure you ladies love him. He's certainly got a look to him. Strong, silent enough to be secretive and tempting. Amanda Seyfried is Savannah, hopeful and optimistic, her heart seemingly open to all. John's back home for awhile on the South Carolina beachside, taking care of his father(Richard Jenkins). John's introduction to Savannah is heroic, diving headlong into the ocean to retrieve her fallen purse. They instantly take a liking to eachother.
As is usually the case, John and Savannah's whirlwind romance is seen mostly in montage. The stuff that bonds and binds them together we experience mostly in passing. It's the obstacles that get highlighted the most. John's father is a quiet man, barely speaking more than a word or two at a time. He's a coin collector, a hobby that fits his somewhat neurotic tendencies. He cooks the same meals every day of the week. Savannah notes that his personality fits the autism model. John's pissed by this observation and beats up a few people in retaliation.
Normally, an act like this would cause most women to run away in fear. But not in a Nicholas Sparks story. It's just a minor road bump, and one that's not at all explored with any depth. John is clearly a hothead. A good number of the populace already knows and fears him. For purposes of story, though, this can't be highlighted in any real way. He must remain perfect enough for us to care about him. John and Savannah's relationship hits another hurdle when he leaves to finish up his tour. However, just as he is due to come home for good, 9/11 happens. Like many young men his age at the time, patriotic duty and brotherhood compel him to extend his tour another two years.
As you'd expect, the two write letters to eachother to help confirm and validate that their feelings are still intact. But the name of the movie is Dear John, not Forever Yours. If you don't know what a Dear John letter is, it's rarely followed by cartwheels, heart shaped candies, and celebratory champagne. At least not for the poor guy on the receiving end.
For the first half of the film, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I was enjoying myself. Amanda Seyfried is an actress I've liked for a long time. She's not your typical screen beauty, which makes her all the more appealing. Channing Tatum, despite striking a bad note with me during the Step Up flicks, has forged himself into an actor capable of playing a certain type of role in films like Fighting and GI Joe. He tries to cash in on that strength here, but lacks the vulnerability to be believable. The highlight is Richard Jenkins(The Visitor) in a role that easily could've devolved into caricature. Playing an autistic can't be easy, but he does it with dignity. The scenes with him are the film's strongest.
The second half of the story showcases the worst aspects of Sparks' writing, as he literally bends the story over backwards in order to make things as bittersweet as possible. No secondary character is safe from Sparks' killing stroke if he thinks it might register a single tear from somebody's eye. It gets a little silly, actually. The war is basically thrown in there as a means to an end. It doesn't matter where he went as much as that he's gone at all. My date for the film said it perfectly, "It just went stupid at the end". I couldn't agree more. I'm convinced that they've reached the stage where any and all Nicholas Sparks novels will be greenlit just because his name equals box office success, regardless if the material is second rate or not. The previews showed another Sparks adaptation starring Miley Cyrus as a...get this...a young girl who falls in love with some guy. I think I've seen that story before, and I'm pretty sure how it ends.
