Stars: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Summary: Based on the celebrated novel by Nicholas Sparks, THE NOTEBOOK tells the story of a young couple who overcome insurmountable odds to experience the true power of love. In a modern-day nursing home, a kindhearted man (James Garner) reads a tender story to another patient (Gena Rowlands). The story begins during one glorious summer in small-town South Carolina in the early 1940s. Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) is a blue-collar log mill worker who courts the wealthy and sheltered Allie Nelson (Rachel McAdams). Before long, sparks are flying and the pair is in love. But eventually Allie's snobby parents force their separation, and when World War II arrives, Noah heads overseas to serve his country. In the meantime, Allie becomes a nurse and falls for another man (James Marsden), to Noah's dismay. Nonetheless, he buys and fixes up the mansion he promised Allie he would one day restore, and when he and Allie reunite just before her wedding, their love blossoms once again. Decades later, in the nursing home, the story reaches its heartfelt conclusion. Directed with extreme sensitivity by Nick Cassavetes (son of co-star Gena Rowlands), THE NOTEBOOK is aided immensely by the naturalistic performances of Gosling and McAdams, whose chemistry is palpable.

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When you consider that old-fashioned tearjerkers are an endangered species in Hollywood, a movie like The Notebookcan be embraced without apology. Yes, it's syrupy sweet and clogged with clichés, and one can only marvel at the irony of Nick Cassavetes directing a weeper that his late father John--whose own films were devoid of saccharine sentiment--would have sneered at. Still, this touchingly impassioned and great-looking adaptation of the popular Nicholas Sparks novel has much to recommend, including appealing young costars (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) and appealing old costars (James Garner and Gena Rowlands, the director's mother) playing the same loving couple in (respectively) early 1940s and present-day North Carolina. He was poor, she was rich, and you can guess the rest; decades later, he's unabashedly devoted, and she's drifting into the memory-loss of senile dementia. How their love endured is the story preserved in the titular notebook that he reads to her in their twilight years. The movie's open to ridicule, but as a delicate tearjerker it works just fine. Message in a Bottleand A Walk to Rememberwere also based on Sparks novels, suggesting a triple-feature that hopeless romantics will cherish. --Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Optional Filmmakers Feature Length Commentaries, 3 Featurettes, Casting, Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2004
Release Date:	February 7, 2005
Runtime:	123 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	E D V 9246
Keywords:	General, Wide, Screen, Drama, Notebook
Genre:	Drama