Romance

Drama

The Notebook

New Line Cinema

Avery Pix

Gran Via Productions

United States of America

English

Ryan Gosling

Rachel McAdams

Gena Rowlands

James Garner

Joan Allen

David Thornton

James Marsden

Kevin Connolly

Sam Shepard

Starletta DuPois

Ed Grady

Jennifer Echols

Heather Wahlquist

Cullen Moss

Thunderbird Dinwiddie

James Middleton

Peter Rosenfeld

Obba Babatundé

Chuck Pacheco

Todd Lewis

Mark Johnson

Robert Fraisse

Barbara Weetman

Daniel Chamblin

Sasha Azevedo

Jamie Anne Allman

Rebecca Koon

Sandra Elise Williams

Deborah Hobart

Sylvia Jefferies

Mark Garner

Scott Ritenour

Milton Buras

Elizabeth Bond

Matthew Barry

Nancy De Mayo

Renée Amber

Tim O'Brien

Meredith O'Brien

Geoffrey Knight

Andrew Schaff

Tim Ivey

Anthony-Michael Q. Thomas

Matt Shelly

Michael D. Fuller

Jonathan Parks Jordan

Leslea Fisher

Jude Kitchens

Pat Leonard

Kweli Leapart

Frederick Bingham

Daniel Czekalski

Bradley D. Capshaw

James Scott Deaton

Eve Kagan

Stephanie Wheeler

Erin Guzowski

John Cundari

Hugh Robertson

Robert Washington

Robert Ivey

Sherril M. Turner

Meredith Zealy

Julianne Keller Lewis

Madison Wayne Ellis

Riley Novak

Ronald Betts

Paul Johansson

David Abrams

Bruce Williamson

Bob Forrest

Taylor Engel

Nick Cassavetes

Aaron Zigman

Avram Butch Kaplan

Nicholas Sparks

Jeremy Leven

Alan Heim

Jan Sardi

Kelly Cabral

Jason King

Jon Taylor

Karyn Wagner

Melinda Taksen

Rickley W. Dumm

Erik Holmberg

Lynn Harris

Kristen Donaldson

Brad Sherman

Philip Tallman

Melissa Moseley

Toby Emmerich

Anthony Cargioli

Claude Letessier

Bob Shelley

Nancy Green-Keyes

Sarah Knowles

Chuck Potter

Linda Grimes

Cal Johnson

Paul Timothy Carden

Lisa Hamil

George P. Wilbur

Peter J. Silbermann

Lori Ayala-Read

Jean Frenette

Patrick Kerton

Marcello Bezina

David McKeown

Jodi Michelle Pynn

Deborah L. Mazor

Christina Ritzi

Dale Frye

Ted Larkin

Gary Combs

Nicole Randall

Rex Reddick

Robert Brubaker

Lauren Stephens

Jonathan Gaynor

Elizabeth Kenton

Barbara Harris

Rhonda Bareford

CinemaSerf

A gently touching look at an elderly couple who must deal with present day mental illness told through a retrospective of their not uneventful lives. Rachel McAdams is "Allie", a young girl from a wealthy family who falls for "Noah" (Ryan Gosling) but her mother wants much better for her, so takes her away to their city home and keeps all of his (365) letters. He joins the Army and fights in WWII and, after time, she meets the handsome, wealthy James Marsden ("Lon") but before she marries, she returns to their old stomping ground and... To be fair, the young love/boy from the wrong side of the tracks story elements of the plot are a bit old hat. It's the delicate mechanics of the film that work best - James Garner ("Duke") is reading a story to dementia suffered "Allie" (Gena Rowlands) about the shenanigans of a young couple in the 1940s without us necessarily realising how poignant and apposite his story is. Gradually we become more invested in their lives and as the story starts to knit together, we start to appreciate just how hard it can be for a couple where one has this most cruel of illnesses. Good performances all around, and from Joan Allen as her interfering mother make this an engaging drama with a sharp end!

Touching!

Despite evidently not watching this until today, I've always heard about the sad tag that many associate with <em>'The Notebook'</em> - and I can see why. Given I didn't know anything other than that, I was not anticipating how the film portrays its story - which is effective and rather heartbreaking. I'm not one to get properly emotional to movies, though hit the feels this one does still certainly do.

The film features impressive performances from Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, as well as James Garner and Gena Rowlands. In smaller roles, Joan Allen and James Marsden are relatively solid too. If I had to nitpick, which it would very much be, I would've shortened the run time ever so slightly; could've been wrapped up quicker, but no biggie.

**_Love story in the 1940s near the coast of South Carolina_**

An aged man at a nursing home (James Garner) reads a romantic tale of two young lovers around the WW2 years (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) to a woman with dementia (Gena Rowlands). Sam Shepard plays the young man’s father while James Marsden is on hand as his competitor.

"The Notebook” (2004) comes in the tradition of romantic dramas like “Message in a Bottle,” “A River Runs through It” and “Legends of the Fall.” It may not be as good as “River,” but it’s not as contrived as “Message” and arguably on par with “Legends.” There are bits that also bring to mind two movies from 1991, “Paradise” and “The Man in the Moon.”

If you appreciate any of these flicks, you’ll probably like this one. Rachel is a highlight, naturally, and you can’t beat the 1940s milieu. The end goes on a little too long, however.

It runs 2 hours, 4 minutes, and was shot mostly on location in the greater Charleston area, as well just outside Montreal for the wintery battlefield sequence and Los Angeles for the rocky beach scene. 

GRADE: B

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Ryan Gosling

Rachel McAdams

Gena Rowlands

James Garner

Joan Allen

David Thornton

James Marsden

Kevin Connolly

Sam Shepard

Starletta DuPois

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