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Capone says DEAR JOHN is something you shouldn't be completely afraid to open!!!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
What is this strange power that author Nicholas Sparks has over women and a few men? While not all of the films based on his novels have been successful, the ones that have been are actually fairly watchable. The most obvious example of this is THE NOTEBOOK, which I defy any man to sit through without getting just a little weepy. Then we get crap like MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE, A WALK TO REMEMBER, and 2008's NIGHTS IN RODANTHE. They made me weep as well, for very different reasons. The latest Sparks adaptation is DEAR JOHN, which I had expected to hate with the full power of God and all his forces he commands. I did not. It's not a great movie, but it's a movie that surprised me when I had assumed it would be highly predictable and as transparent as a recently Windexed window pane. Under the direction of the usually reliable Lasse Hallstrom (WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, CHOCOLAT, CASSANOVA, THE HOAX), DEAR JOHN is not designed to appeal to teen girls as the young cast might lead you to believe, and for that reason alone I gave it an honest shot at moving me.
Channing Tatum plays John Tyree, a young Army man on leave at home with his uncommunicative father (Richard Jenkins), when he meets Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried from MAMMA MIA) at the beach on the Carolina coast. In just a couple of days, they fall in love and promise to wait for each other while he's gone for a year. But when September 11 happens, John decides to reenlist for two more years, and heads home to let Savannah know of his decision. They try to keep things going, but eventually...well, the title of this film isn't just a play on John's name and the fact that the two write letters back and forth constantly. The titular letter, however, comes at about the halfway point in the movie, which surprised me, as did much of what happens after that point.
Also on hand in the film is a fully bearded Henry Thomas (Elliot from E.T.) as Savannah's single-father next-door neighbor Tim, who is quite protective of Savannah but in a friendly way that John immediately takes to, and the two become good friends as well. I don't think I want to reveal too much more of the plot, because the film's secrets are modest but good enough that they are worth keeping. And while I thought DEAR JOHN would be full-on mush and shallow acting from the leads, it's nothing like that at all, especially in the back half of the movie, which is quite emotional. I've seen Tatum play emotionally sensitive muscle man before (including in another Iraq War-era film, STOP-LOSS), and I've always thought the guy pulled it off more often than not. Seyfried's talent, beauty and ability to get just a little deeper into a character than the writing might have called on her to have been her strengths for quite some time. She's the emotional core of this movie in ways I'd both anticipated and ones that truly surprised me.
It would be easy to just cap on this movie by labeling it a chick flick and moving on, but I can't remember the last chick flick that focused so much on the current war and the price couples have paid due to the conflict. DEAR JOHN is not a great movie, but there are a great deal of things to like, more than you might expect or believe. There are far better movies out there right now, but if you get dragged to this, you probably won't suffer. Let's end this by calling this the second-best Sparks-based movie since THE NOTEBOOK and leave it at that.
-- Capone
therealcapone@aintitcoolmail.com
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WHAT?
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But there is no force on the earth that can drag me to that movie.
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...said if you are moved by this movie, you better be a 12 year old girl. Classic . . .
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It wouldn't matter if this flick was phenomenal, I can't suffer Channing Tatum's HORRIBLE acting. He's like a Bad Marky Mark. Yes, worse than Marky, because a few directors have actually managed to make his bad acting work within their films -(three kings, boogie nights) but I think that's more a miracle of editing and directing. Channing Tatum however is beyond redemption.
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I'm not alone on this one am I?
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...to Platinum Studios...they passed. Wonder what they think now?
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Getting louder is how he shows anger. Not raising his eyebrows or widening his eyes is how he expresses himself with every other emotion.
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Whoa, well that's a surprise.
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Kidding! And sorry for the overly-obscure reference.
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Feb 05, 2010 2:44:51 PM CST
Yeah, Amanda Seyfried, like Uma Thurman and Kristin Bell...
by jaylenotookmyjob
...needs an "eye wrangler".
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Channig Tatum's acting reminds me of Jake Lloyd in Phantom Menace. Tatum is a wooden, emotionless actor and one of the worst in Hollywood. Suprised he hasn't been cast in a Twilight movie yet because they love bad actors who are famous more for their looks than anything else.
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empty calories
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How he, Ashton Kutcher, and Dane Cook get acting gigs baffles me.
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Unless some shit explodes at some point.
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http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/02/dear_john_vs_dear_john.html
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http://tinyurl.com/ycjqcfk
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Channing can never be forgiven for GI Joe
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to go with your sodie? Homo.
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At least the female voice does anyway. I start to hear the beginning of that song, I reach for the mute button cuz that voice just irks me so. Other than that it looqs coo' to me. Amanda seyfried has the chance to join Rachel MacAdams as far as breaking out from Mean Girls; hopefully Lacey Chabert can do the same sooner or later. Lohan can stay in whatever 3rd world country she planned to visit after licking the split of that chiq dj obviously didn't worq out.
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His "thespian" skills were laughable accompanied by beattle's lame ass dialog; "that's my girl" what a hack. i refuse to see him in anymore films unless the proported Joe sequel is any good.
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"You and what army?" "Me and THIS army." Ugh. Fucking hack actor.
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John makes Savannah submit to sex games where he puts a black wig and glasses on her, takes her from behind, and yells "call me Duke."
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The guy and girl either live happily ever after, or it becomes complete disaster. There is no middle ground. I liked his early books, and have read this one, but they are all the same now. Same thing goes for James Patterson.
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I too am shocked by the less-than-great acting in a movie written by Hasbro.
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teh main thrust of this review is, "It's not as shitty as I expected it to be."
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I can't read your comments. Is using a 'q' instead of a 'k' really that much more expedient for you? If you're trying to adopt some sort of signature idiosyncrasy, why not 'irqs'? I mean, if you have to be be annoying, at least do it consistently, oqay?
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Are you serious? Damn, this website is seriously losing trust value. First "From Paris with Love" was a "good" action movie and now this is a "good" romance tale that I'm sure has a sad ending and will make one feel empty in the inside but happy in the outside? Shit, man, but Massa is the only to trust. IN MASSA WE TRUST.
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...Makes Sam Worthington look like Humphrey Bogart.
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That guy is fucking horrible. The best thing about him is he's stuck in a late 90's Vanilla Ice wannabe mode. The guy really,really wants to be black so bad he can't stand it. I feel sorry for him, I wish modern science could make it possible.
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and No I Will not be the First to tell you all. This is actually pretty good. We are witnessing the emergence of Tatum as a young reckless wonderful Richard Gere type of actor. boldly beautiful, sexy, indulgent, morose, driven, needy, urgent. He knows how to hold his breath under water for fifteen minutes! The ending and the eponymous John really come to together and I can safely assume there shan't be a dry eye in the theater near you when this film plays. Amazing performance out of Tatum. Imagine if A FEW GOOD MEN had sex with an OFFICER AND A GENTLEMEN and we begin to understand what this film is capable of doing to one's sense of purpose, love, fate, and honor. See it for Tatum, but stay for the Emotions.
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that the band had somehow made a movie. I hear their new album is based on the idea of what would have happened if Ingmar Bergman had gone to Hollywood, so it wouldn't have been that surprising.
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ok... is this for real? is this a real review and a real talkback for this movie?? cmon, does this even need to be here?? i'm so confused...
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... 1) "It's a chick flick". 2) Yeah, but if you LIKE chick flicks, I guess it's not a BAD one. 1) Whatever, it's a chick flick. 2) Yeah, I know.
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HNIOMs EepMmoT
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yPtsPtM VVayaZ
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