The Notebook

Directed by Nick Cassavetes, this adaptation of author Nicholas Sparks' bestselling novel revolves around Noah Calhoun's (James Garner) regular visits to a female patron (Gena Rowlands) of an area nursing home. Rather than bore her with the inanities of everyday life, Calhoun reads from an old, ...more

One of the few compelling reasons to watch The Notebook is for concrete, visible evidence of its stars (and former young Hollywood-by-way-of-Canada couple) Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling falling in love with one another on screen and while in character. Other than that, this schlocky, improbable wartime romance melodrama has about as much substance as a Lifetime TV movie. Phrases like "You can't tell me who to love" fly out of the mouths of the characters like spit, and a prevailing notion ...more

The only way The Notebook resembles anything on Nick Cassavetes' resumé is that it features his mother, Gena Rowlands. But this departure is a good thing. Too fixated early in his career on (poorly) imitating the gritty mannerisms of his father, iconoclast filmmaker John Cassavetes, the younger Cassavetes gives himself over here to a lyrical romance that takes place mostly in the 1940s. The clean production design of a period piece suits him well, and while it may not be grubby-fingernails real, ...more