Dear John

Based on the book by Nicholas Sparks, Dear John follows military man John Tyree (Channing Tatum) as he finds himself falling for a free-spirited college student (Amanda Seyfried’s Savannah Curtis) while on leave – with their unabashedly idealized romance hitting a seemingly insurmountable road block after John extends his tour in the aftermath of 9/11. There’s little doubt that Dear John fares best in its opening hour, as the tentative relationship between John and Savannah is ultimately handled a lot better and far more maturely than one might’ve expected – as director Lasse Hallström employs an impressively artful sensibility that separates the film from its typically superficial and glossy teenage-romance brethren (eg Adam Shankman’s cloying adaptation of Sparks’ A Walk to Remember). And although the filmmaker’s reliance on languid pacing results in a watchable yet thoroughly uneven atmosphere, the palpable chemistry between the central characters proves affecting enough to carry the proceedings through its less-than-enthralling stretches. It’s subsequently not surprising to note that Dear John demonstrably suffers as John and Savannah are forced to spend much of the movie’s midsection apart, with the uniformly stellar performances ultimately sustaining the viewer’s interest during this comparatively lackluster portion of the proceedings. Seyfried’s expectedly luminous work is matched by a surprisingly layered performance from her otherwise unremarkable co-star, yet there’s little doubt that it’s Richard Jenkins, cast as John’s emotionally distant father, who inevitably walks away with the title of MVP (ie he’s just that good). The final result is a feel-good romance that’s actually more satisfying than its literary predecessor, as the film’s relatively upbeat conclusion feels like a more appropriate match for the syrupy storyline than the curiously depressing finale within Sparks’ novel.

**1/2 out of ****