Dear John, an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks's novel and the first film to overthrow the reigning Avatar, is a tearful story of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl (in two weeks might I add!), boy leaves for war, many love letters ensue. The love letters between John Tyree (Tatum) and Savannah Curtis (Seyfried) carry the plot. What makes the plot convincing is the undeniable chemistry between Amanda and Channing. For those who haven't seen Dear John, there's a flush-inducing, steamy nighttime barn scene that makes those two hours worthwhile! I'm just saying...
Anyway, as an avid Nick Sparks reader, I was quite surprised how closely the film followed the events of his novel. More often than not, as most of us romance novel readers can attest to, the novel rarely translates to film 100% accurately, resulting in inevitable disappointment. Disappointment is how I felt after seeing Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember (I didn't dare give a dime to see Nights in Rodanthe, Sparks's worst novel, hands down). I was pleasantly pleased with Dear John until the end. The happily-ever-after ending may have been what the audience paid to see but definitely not what Sparks wrote, which in my opinion, was the more realistic ending, not to mention the more clever one. Hollywood took liberties to give audiences what they want: A sappy Valentine's Day movie that ends predictably happy.
Valentine's Day, directed by the ever-so popular Garry Marshall (creator of classic TV show, Happy Days and the director of hit films, Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries), is a two hour tribute to romance with a handful of intersecting (and at times, surprising!) story lines, some bittersweet and others downright hilarious!
Recruiting Hollywood's most attractive and attractively humorous cast, probably wasn't too difficult for Garry Marshall seeing as how the majority have previously starred in his movies. And it was an ingenious idea. If it hadn't been for the A-list cast, would the box office numbers reflect the millions of love-stricken, shameless women who rushed to the theatre to indulge in a movie aimed at their demographic? Hard to say. I mean, let's face it, those who saw the trailer for the film knew not to expect much from the plot except for silly enjoy-ability. Aha! That's where we were all fooled! For those lovelorn and hopeful romantics who were gullible enough to open their pocketbooks for this film, our low expectations gave way to high marks for a movie that made us laugh heartily and love even more deeply (and it didn't hurt that McSteamy Eric Dane appears shirtless or that the Marina del Rey Marriott, my wedding reception venue, had a cameo!)
So it looks like Cupid made his mark on both our Valentine's movies... and our hearts!
