'Dear John': Cheesy to the letter
Life is a beach for John (Channing Tatum) and Savannah (Amanda Seyfried).
(Screen Gems)
Dear John
Running time: 102 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13 (profanity, adult situations)
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The sappiness almost drips off the romantic-drama "Dear John."
That surprises me a little with established, usually excellent director Lasse Hallström at the helm.
The culprit here for romance dulled by overbearing melodrama is the novelist, Nicholas Sparks. If you thought the sappy movie versions of previous Sparks novels "Message in a Bottle" and "The Notebook" were just the right kind of tear-jerker, you'll find familiar surroundings in "Dear John."
I'm no genius. I had a pretty good idea, however, that once preppy Southern belle Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) started sending letters overseas to John Tyree (Channing Tatum), her U.S. Army Special Forces beau, that eventually "that letter" would arrive. After all, every letter in this weepie begins with "Dear John."
The soldier and the college girl meet on a South Carolina beach in the early '00s. She's on spring break. He's home to visit his quirky, reclusive father (Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins). They fall in love quickly, but vow to spend the rest of their lives together, after John's Army hitch is up in about a year.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 change all that. John can't walk away from his duty to country. Savannah, however, is more of a mindset that a deal's a deal. Uh, oh. Who can't feel a certain "poison pen" moment looming?
Can this exercise in pulp friction actually be coming from the same talented Swedish director who orchestrated heart-breaking drama so well in "The Cider House Rules" (1999) and had our hearts on a leash with "My Life As a Dog" in the mid-'80s?
"Dear John," while not quite as silly as novelist Sparks' "Message In a Bottle" or, for that matter, "The Notebook," wastes not only our time, but the time of Jenkins, the excellent actor of "Burn After Reading" and "The Visitor."
Once Texas native Henry Thomas (The "E.T." kid all grown up and doing some good work) shaves the beard and is recognizable, he's pretty good as Tim. He's the needy single father at the beach house next door who's sort of biding his time when it comes to companionship.
No pity is necessary for the two young leads. Seyfried, on screen recently in "Jennifer's Body," and Tatum ("G.I. Joe"), the latest in a long line of stone-faced semi-actors, are simply two young actors looking for work.
With a little luck, their next outings will provide a little more substance for them, and for us as well.
That surprises me a little with established, usually excellent director Lasse Hallström at the helm.
The culprit here for romance dulled by overbearing melodrama is the novelist, Nicholas Sparks. If you thought the sappy movie versions of previous Sparks novels "Message in a Bottle" and "The Notebook" were just the right kind of tear-jerker, you'll find familiar surroundings in "Dear John."
I'm no genius. I had a pretty good idea, however, that once preppy Southern belle Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) started sending letters overseas to John Tyree (Channing Tatum), her U.S. Army Special Forces beau, that eventually "that letter" would arrive. After all, every letter in this weepie begins with "Dear John."
The soldier and the college girl meet on a South Carolina beach in the early '00s. She's on spring break. He's home to visit his quirky, reclusive father (Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins). They fall in love quickly, but vow to spend the rest of their lives together, after John's Army hitch is up in about a year.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 change all that. John can't walk away from his duty to country. Savannah, however, is more of a mindset that a deal's a deal. Uh, oh. Who can't feel a certain "poison pen" moment looming?
Can this exercise in pulp friction actually be coming from the same talented Swedish director who orchestrated heart-breaking drama so well in "The Cider House Rules" (1999) and had our hearts on a leash with "My Life As a Dog" in the mid-'80s?
"Dear John," while not quite as silly as novelist Sparks' "Message In a Bottle" or, for that matter, "The Notebook," wastes not only our time, but the time of Jenkins, the excellent actor of "Burn After Reading" and "The Visitor."
Once Texas native Henry Thomas (The "E.T." kid all grown up and doing some good work) shaves the beard and is recognizable, he's pretty good as Tim. He's the needy single father at the beach house next door who's sort of biding his time when it comes to companionship.
No pity is necessary for the two young leads. Seyfried, on screen recently in "Jennifer's Body," and Tatum ("G.I. Joe"), the latest in a long line of stone-faced semi-actors, are simply two young actors looking for work.
With a little luck, their next outings will provide a little more substance for them, and for us as well.
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