| THE NOTEBOOK |
 2004 – USADirector: Nick Cassavetes
- Reviewed by Linda
What's that smell? Is it the stench of another stinky choice for the Opening Night film of the Seattle International Film Festival? Alas, yes. Instead of starting the festival with a triumphant bang, the opener The Notebook is a squishy-soft gauzy and dull romance that left the audience running for the booze and snacks after the screening. But I guess choosing a glossy film like this to open the highest-attended film festival in North America allows the SIFF folks to sell the rest of the fest by saying, "The best is yet to come!" without anyone questioning them. Apparently based on a popular novel that I can only assume is as deadeningly schmaltzy and obvious as the film, The Notebook offers a most typical cinematic retread of two people falling in love from the opposite sides of the tracks. Noah (Ryan Gosling, who has proved in other films that he can act) is a scrappy poor boy who falls for the city girl Allie (Rachel McAdams, who has proven, well, not much in Mean Girls) when her family holidays in the country for the summer. After being the target of Noah's unwanted sexual harrassment at the county fair, Allie of course falls for Noah, but It Is Not Meant To Be. After their summer romance, Allie has to go back to the big city, to go to college, and live her destiny of privilege. With World War II throwing everyone's life into disarray for only about 20 cinematic minutes, the audience is left wondering if Noah and Allie's paths will bring them back together—if True First Love will win out, so the violins can swell with happily-ever-after music. Bookending the storytelling flashbacks of young love are scenes of an elderly man (James Garner) reading the young lovers' story to an elderly woman (Gena Rowlands) who is suffering from dementia. In between bouts of confusion, she eagerly waits for the story to continue, though it sounds strangely familiar to her. Who might these two characters be? Let's just say when it was "revealed" who the old couple were, I was amazed to find that the filmmakers considered it to be a surprise. That being said, James Garner and Gena Rowlands (who still looks fantastic, by the way), bring such class and dignity to their scenes, that their final moments still mananaged to wring some tears out of me. They act the hell out of their ten or so minutes of on-screen time, and you find yourself wishing that they had been given their own movie. Instead, you are forced to sit through dull, pretty young people that portray "suffering" by having bad hair and unkempt clothes. Garner and Rowlands get a slice of pie each, for just being there... as far as the rest of The Notebook, just put it on the Hallmark channel where it belongs. [Read Jennifer's "this movie left me in a useless, sniveling heap of tears" positive review of The Notebook.] |
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