Dear John (Review)

Posted By Dennis Willis on Feb 5, 2010 | 0 comments

DEAR JOHN (2/05/10; Drama, Romance) Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Henry Thomas, Richard Jenkins, Keith Robinson SCR: Jamie Linden; based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks DIR: Lasse Hallstrom MPAA: PG-13 for Some sensuality and violence. 1 hour 45 mins BOX: $76,626,086

A little forbidden romance, some broken promises, a whole lot of fate getting in the way and eventually something tragic happens. Dear John is the story of John Tyree (Tatum), a young soldier home on leave, and Savannah Curtis (Seyfried), the idealistic college student he falls in love with during her spring vacation.

If this is your idea of a good time, this is all you. I’m not exactly sure when I checked out. It might have been around the fifth or sixth music montage or the point at which I realized this plays exactly like the parody of one of these melodramatic flicks.

It’s the kitchen sink approach: this has no less than an autistic kid, a war and a sick dad. The great Richard Jenkins plays the dad, and that’s usually enough to make a movie worth the price of admission. Not this time. (Screen Gems)

— DENNIS WILLIS