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 Walking into a Nicholas Sparks film, there are two things every moviegoer should expect. One, someone is going to die. And two, tears will be shed, at least on one occasion.
Sparks’ latest novel-turned-feature film, Dear John, lives up to both expectations, although it still pales in comparison to Sparks’ true cinematic gem, The Notebook. The film tells the story of two young adults, Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) and John (Channing Tatum), who meet during the spring of 2001 while Savannah is on spring break from college and John is on leave from the Army. When one of Savannah’s potential courters accidentally pushes her purse into the ocean, John quickly dives off the pier to fetch it for her, instantly sparking a friendship between the two. Over the course of the next two weeks, the two fall deeply in love with one another only to have to say good-bye when Savannah starts school again and John reports back for duty. Forced to spend the next 12 months apart, the two decide to write each other a series of letters to keep their love alive until John returns home for good.
Of course, after Sept. 11, John feels obligated to fight for his country more than ever before and decides to reenlist in the Army, even though part of him wants nothing more than to move back home to be with his girl. With a tearful Savannah back in the U.S., the couple’s love is put to the ultimate test as John continues his tour of duty overseas for much longer than either one ever expected.
 While Dear John may be a love story first and foremost, the film’s emotional core resides not in Savannah and John’s budding romance but in John’s touching father-son subplot. One of the things that brings John and Savannah closer together when they first start dating is the way she handles John’s emotionally closed down father, who she mistakenly believes suffers from Autism. As John watches his dad bond with Savannah over his precious rare coin collection, he slowly begins to reconnect with his father as well. It is this father-son relationship that truly carries the film--not John and Savannah’s relationship--and brings about Dear John’s most heartwrenching moments.
Not surprisingly, when the father-son story comes to an end, Dear John seems like it should wrap up as well. Unfortunately, though, Savannah and John’s story isn’t quite complete, and the film drags on for another 15-20 minutes. Although the ending does offer a few surprise twists and turns, overall, Dear John would be much more poignant if it ended with the monologue it began with.
While Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried both deliver fine performances, it’s Richard Jenkins as John’s distant father who delivers yet another scene-stealing performance. Jenkins is always great in whatever he stars in, and Dear John is no exception. His scenes are easily some of the most powerful in the film, which says a lot considering Dear John is, for the most part, a post-9/11 war drama. Tatum, meanwhile, continues to better himself with each passing role he gets, proving with Dear John that he’s not just some hunky heartthrob relying on his looks to get him his next gig--he actually has some talent.
 Despite Tatum and Seyfried’s noteworthy performances, however, viewers are never completely invested in John and Savannah’s romance like they were with Noah and Allie’s in The Notebook. Part of this could be blamed on Dear John’s fairly quick running time, although toward the end of the film the story does seem unnecessarily long. Truthfully, it’s the series of letters written between John and Savannah that’s supposed to show the couple’s undying love for each other that ultimately ends up hurting the film. Granted Noah was just reading his and Allie’s love story aloud during The Notebook, but viewers got to see their relationship develop on-screen through flashbacks. With Dear John, viewers only briefly get to see John and Savannah interact; most of the film is just a montage of the two writing each other and starring at the moon, thinking of how the other is looking at the same moon half a world away. These scenes are touching, yes, but hardly give viewers a sense of why the young lovebirds are meant to be together. Perhaps if director Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, The Cider House Rules) spent more time on the two weeks Savannah and John actually spent together viewers would care more about whether or not their love survives John’s deployment in the end.
Furthermore, there are some plot holes in Dear John that are never fully explained. Though they hardly distract from the movie as the audience watches it, once the credits pass, viewers will be left with more than a few unanswered questions. It’s safe to assume that Sparks’ novel addresses these issues in their entirety, though, as the questions seem more like hurried edits than gaping plot holes in Dear John’s story (which was adapted for the screen by We Are Marshall’s Jamie Linden). One can only assume that John and Savannah’s relationship comes across stronger on page than on-screen as well, making Dear John one of many films that’s probably better as a book than a movie.
 Nevertheless, hurried romance and plot holes aside, Dear John is still a touching film, though not for the obvious reasons. Those walking into the film expecting an unforgettable romance à la The Notebook will be disappointed, but those just expecting to see a touching movie should leave relatively pleased. The film isn’t as predictable as one might guess, and while the love story is only so-so (John and Savannah’s passionate kiss in the rain hardly compares to Noah and Allie’s!), Dear John still takes viewers on an emotional journey filled with plenty of tears--and really, what more could fans of Nicholas Sparks ask for?
Dear John is now playing in theaters.
For more information, visit the film’s official Web site.
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