{"id":9430,"date":"2010-06-28T13:58:16","date_gmt":"2010-06-28T21:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=9430"},"modified":"2010-06-28T14:11:53","modified_gmt":"2010-06-28T22:11:53","slug":"dear-john-2010-lasse-hallstrom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=9430","title":{"rendered":"Dear John (Lasse Hallstr\u00f6m, 2010): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by\u00a0Vee Rice<\/a>. Viewed at Regal Cinemas Davis Holiday 6, Davis, CA.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dear John,<\/p>\n

Please return to sender.<\/p>\n

Lasse Hallstr\u00f6m\u2019s Dear John<\/a><\/em> (2010) is an adaptation of yet another Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name.\u00a0 The film follows the relationship of John Tyree, an American soldier, and Savannah Curtis, a conservative college girl.\u00a0 They meet over spring break while John is on leave and fall in love over the course of their one week together.\u00a0 Savannah goes back to school and John returns to his post in Germany.\u00a0 Their magical week (very Romeo and Juliet) convinces them to continue a long-distance relationship through letters until John returns one year later.\u00a0 However, John reenlists after 9\/11, testing their relationship.<\/p>\n

Dear John<\/em> is nothing special\u2014just another love story.\u00a0 It delivers nothing unique after following other adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels, such as Luis Mandoki\u2019s Message in a Bottle<\/em> (1999) and Adam Shankman\u2019s A Walk to Remember<\/em> (2002).\u00a0 The newest adaptation lacks the emotional charge of Hallstr\u00f6m\u2019s earlier film What\u2019s Eating Gilbert Grape<\/em> (1993) or the quirky charm of Chocolat<\/em> (2000).\u00a0 What Dear John<\/em> delivers is a trite, overdone love story, which really makes me wonder, why are filmmakers still adapting Sparks novels<\/em>?\u00a0 Oh right\u2014his novels adapt into perfect chick flicks.\u00a0 What better way to make a chick flick work than casting a pretty boy in the lead role?\u00a0 The casting crew made a perfect decision with Channing Tatum as John Tyree.\u00a0 His role in the Step Up<\/em> movies stereotypes him as a pretty face with no talent, while his role in G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra<\/em> pigeonholes him as a military meathead.\u00a0 John is a perfect blend between military man and \u201csensitive\u201d pretty boy.\u00a0 Everyone\u2019s favourite Mean Girl, Amanda Seyfried, plays his love interest, Savannah Curtis.\u00a0 Unfortunately for Amanda, every time she opens her mouth all I hear is, \u201cI\u2019m a mouse, duh.\u201d\u00a0 She tries to play a smart, conservative girl, but she cannot escape her role as a floozy.\u00a0 She does try though.\u00a0 The worst part is the lack of chemistry between Tatum and Seyfried.\u00a0 Dear John<\/em> is a love story with no love.<\/p>\n

The film begs the timeless question, is it better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all?\u00a0 To answer that, we need to pretend for a moment that Tatum and Seyfried\u2019s performances are believable.\u00a0 Okay, now that we are in Never-Gonna-Happen Land I can explore that question.\u00a0 Savannah meets John, spends time with him for a week, and then decides he is worth waiting a year for before he returns to her.\u00a0 If they are not physically together their first year together, is that even a real relationship?\u00a0 My vote says \u201cno\u201d on that proposition and say the entire movie is a waste of time.\u00a0 They do not see each other over the course of most of their relationship, and spend copious amounts of time trying to piece together John\u2019s failing relationship with his dad.\u00a0 The film really tries hard to add depth with subplots.\u00a0 John loves his father, specifically because he is his father, but does not like him much otherwise.\u00a0 John\u2019s father has Asperger\u2019s\u2014a mental condition that Savannah understands much better than he does, and she tries to help John understand his father.\u00a0 When John\u2019s father falls ill, he truly learns, or is supposed to learn, that it is more important to love\u2014his father\u2014and lose him, than to have never loved his father at all.<\/p>\n

With a weak storyline, ineffective acting, and a tired theme, there is no wonder why Dear John<\/em> falls short as a movie.\u00a0 Where a carefully constructed love story about a U.S. soldier and his girl back home should tug at the hearts of its viewers, this movie lacks the appeal to make its viewers feel anything.\u00a0 Dear John<\/em> is a pathetic attempt to romanticize a war the majority of Americans do not support.\u00a0 John feels his duty to America outweighs his promises to Savannah.\u00a0 Of course, John stills plans on marrying her, but he has to fight the good fight first.\u00a0 The filmmakers try to give John depth\u2014a poorly structured history as a bad boy, alienation from his father, and an absent mother, but Tatum\u2019s mediocre acting and a lack of real character development keep the viewer from making any connection or caring about the little growth John actually makes as a character.\u00a0 All I got out of Tatum\u2019s performance is \u201cAw, he\u2019s pretty.\u201d\u00a0 Amanda\u2019s terrible acting rivals Tatum\u2019s own.\u00a0 Her portrayal of Savannah desperately tries to prove not all blondes are dumb (or slutty): Savannah volunteers to build houses over her spring break, helps her neighbor take care of his Autistic son, and generally establishes herself as a \u201cgood person.\u201d\u00a0 Wait, this sounds a lot like a Mandy Moore film I remember.\u00a0 Maybe there is no difference between characters adapted from different Nicholas Sparks\u2019 novels.\u00a0 There is also little difference in theme.\u00a0 A Walk to Remember<\/em> (that Mandy Moore film I was just thinking of!) also deals with the concept of lost love.\u00a0 It is a common theme, and a well-made movie can get away with telling us the same story we have all heard a thousand times before, but Dear John<\/em> makes the theme boring and clich\u00e9.\u00a0 Dear John<\/em> probably appeals to the military wives and girlfriends out there who chose to put themselves in the situation where their lover is gone most of their relationship, but for the majority of ladies out there, this movie is a waste of 105 minutes of life that at least I, demand back.\u00a0 The lack of female interest is a telltale sign that men are not going to be running to the box office to see it with their friends.\u00a0 This chick flick isn\u2019t even good for chicks.\u00a0 The best part about the movie is staring at Channing Tatum (preferably on mute) for an hour and a half.\u00a0 So, if you really need to cry your eyes out to a good Nicholas Sparks romantic drama, rent Nick Cassavetes\u2019 The Notebook<\/em> (2004) and save your money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by\u00a0Vee Rice. Viewed at Regal Cinemas Davis Holiday 6, Davis, CA. Dear John, Please return to sender. Lasse Hallstr\u00f6m\u2019s Dear John (2010) is an adaptation of yet another Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name.\u00a0 The film follows the relationship of John Tyree, an American soldier, and Savannah Curtis, a conservative college girl.\u00a0 They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academic-papers","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}