The Notebook
Allie (Rachel McAdams) was the rich girl who stayed in the Carolinas for the summer. Duke (Ryan Gosling) was the hard-working man living in the Carolinas. But one night at the carnival changed both of their lives. They soon fell for each other, but Allie's parents disapproved of the couple and moved her back early. Life went on, but while Allie moved on, eventually becoming engaged to a wealthy military man (James Marsden), Duke can't get the image of Allie out of his head. Duke's picture in the paper forces Allie to re-examine the choices she has made thus far. All of this is told from a notebook by James Garner, telling the story to an Alzheimer's patient (Gena Rowlands).

The movie is quite a predictable love story but the couple of McAdams and Gosling make that part of the story work. However, it is the interludes of Garner and Rowlands that messes up the timing and effectiveness of the movie. These scenes try too hard to hide the secret that director John Cassevetes wants to save for the big finale that not only is it pretty obvious where the story is leading, I lost all interest I had in the old couple and impatiently waited for the young couple to turn up again. The scenes are beautifully shot and the script isn't all too bad for this type of film, but it never builds up a rhythm to the point where we really feel for them. Instead, we're just waiting for the inevitable to happen. 2 stars