Star Scene

By Ian Gibson

American author Nicholas Sparks has made a name for himself in the romantic genre, writing novels that find movie adaptation dealing with Crichton-esque rapidity.  With The Notebook, Sweet November, Nights in Rodanthe and several other page-to-screen success stories already under his belt, Sparks’ latest creation, Dear John, looks to continue his box office streak.

Dear John maintains the basics of the Sparks romantic plot, specifically that of a passionate love faced with immensely complex and presumably insurmountable obstacles.  The token twist of this movie is that the boy in love is a deployed soldier sent to the frontlines of the War on Terror. Played by Channing Tatum, of G.I. Joe and Step Up, and Amanda Seyfried, from Mean Girls and Mamma Mia, the young couple must cope with a long-distance romance based upon the brief time they have together.

Working off of this unique premise, Dear John could easily work on a number of levels of political or social criticism or even just the instability of the teenage heart. Yet, when the lights dim and the projector comes on, Dear John proves to be an immensely uninteresting movie. Being shot in nearly identical fashion to countless other light chick-flick fare featuring overly dramatic dialogue interspersed with heartthrob songs, the movie squanders any uniqueness its plot may offer. It is nearly impossible to feel empathetic towards the troubling situation of the main characters if it is presented in such a ho-hum, stereotypical manner.

Perhaps the worse flaw of Dear John is the utter lack of romance in it. The love story presented is not especially inspiring or uplifting, centering itself in the most mundane acts of courtship. Between the two lovers is absolutely zero chemistry or romantic spark, something that is absolutely necessary in a film such as this. The audience cannot cheer-on a relationship that is inherently mundane and lackluster.

Dear John is a squandered plot ruined by two-dimensional characters and uninteresting romance. If one seeks a movie completely devoid of love and originality, look no further than this flop of film.