I Finally Watched...The Notebook

Now I know what you're thinking.  How did THIS get chosen?  Well, originally at the end of my post about having finally watched 'Santa Claus Conquers The Martians' I vaguely hinted that the next entry in this series would be 'Beverly Hills Cop'.  Time went on and I just never really got around to doing it.  I then decided to skip the whole "randomly choosing" thing and settled on the 2010 animated Disney movie 'Tangled'.  After all, I surprisingly hadn't seen it yet.  And this is coming from someone who saw both 'Princess and the Frog' and 'Frozen' in the theater.  So I ended up watching it when it recently played on The Disney Channel and I did end up liking a lot and thought that it was extremely funny.  'Frozen' is a better movie overall but I digress.  So after having finally watched 'Tangled'...well, time passed and I just got lazy.  I wanted to bring this series back sometime but I needed to commit to a movie to watch and write about, not just watch and then get lazy.

So I decided to watch something that would be outside my comfort zone.  'Beverly Hills Cop' is an 80's comedy, and I tend to like 80's comedies.  'Tangled' is an animated Disney movie, and I tend to like those as well.  I needed something a bit challenging.  Not like an arthouse movie challenge where I feel dumb immediately after watching it (or hating immensely because it thinks it's so smart and above everything else), but just something outside my comfort zone.  I looked over my list and narrowed it down to some movies that definitely fall under that requirement.  So that, ladies and gentlemen, is how "I Finally Watched..." returns with 2004's ultimate chick flick 'The Notebook'. 

So yeah....'The Notebook'.  Based on the 1996 novel by Nicholas Sparks that I had never heard of nor is it something that I'd want to read.  My first recollection of seeing anything related to 'The Notebook' was seeing a poster for it on a wall roughly ten years ago at the Regal Cinemas theater in town when I went with my brothers and grandma to see 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'.  I don't recall seeing any commercials for it.  I probably skimmed through the review of it that was printed in the newspaper but I don't quite remember much about those.  While doing a bit of research for this post I found out that apparently when 'The Notebook' was released it received mixed to positive reviews, with a 52% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes ('rotten'), an 85% among audiences on Rotten Tomatoes ('fresh'), and a 53 on Metacritic (meaning mixed or average reviews).  Among those who praised the movie was the late Roger Ebert.  

After it had been released I remember watching the MTV Movie Awards the following year and saw Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams win Best Kiss and they reenacted it on the stage just before accepting the award.  That's basically all I remember about 'The Notebook' when it first came out.  And I can't quite pinpoint when the hype for this movie really started.  How this was the ultimate chick flick and that girls would force their boyfriends to watch this movie.  How a lot of people that watch this movie, both men and women, end up crying their eyes out while watching this.  I also knew that this was directed by Nick Cassavetes, who also directed 'John Q', 'My Sister's Keeper', this past spring's 'The Other Woman', and had a cameo in 'The Hangover Part II' as a tattoo artist.  Anyway, during my rather brief relationship was I ever forced to watch 'The Notebook'?  Surprisingly, no.  But that doesn't mean that I didn't have a brush with a Nicholas Sparks movie at some point.

My first experience watching a Nicholas Sparks movie came courtesy of a belated Valentine's Day date to see 'Safe Haven', based on another book that I never read.  I knew that my now ex-girlfriend wanted to see it, so when I suggested seeing it with her she was probably surprised that I even suggested it in the first place.  After all, I have said that I'll watch just about any movie.  You can read my review of 'Safe Haven' here and in all honesty it wasn't that bad.  I'm clearly not the target audience for it and the third act of the movie gets crazy, but it wasn't bad.  I've seen better, and I've seen way worse.

Usually I don't watch chick flicks.  To put it plain and simple, they're not really something that I'd go see.  Now, having said that, most of the ones I've seen I've actually liked.  As far as romantic dramas go, yes I liked 'Titanic'.  I wasn't expecting to like it, and trust me I was ready to roll my eyes during it.  But, I liked it.  'The Spectacular Now', which is a perfectly blended comedy/drama, was also one I liked a lot.  As far as actual comedies go, I did like 'Mean Girls', 'Easy A', 'Legally Blonde', 'Love Actually' and '(500) Days of Summer'.  'Bridesmaids' and 'Warm Bodies' I don't consider to be chick flicks but that's a discussion for another day.  Anyway, did I initially want to see any of these?  No. For the most part they were movies I finally watched after hearing a plethora of good things about them, from both women and men.  Or in the case of the 'Twilight' movies I initially just wanted to see what all the fuss was about and then wanted to see just how bad the rest of those movies were. 'Legally Blonde' I was forced to watch, but at least it was funny enough that I liked it.  If I had to pick between watching a romantic comedy or a romantic drama I'd choose the former.  I'd rather laugh than watch some sappy love story take itself WAY too seriously.

Do I have any other initial thoughts to 'The Notebook' being the next movie in this series?  Well...I have said that I'll watch just about any movie.  I mean I'm a twenty-something, single, unemployed, overweight, college educated, straight male who lives with his parents and is about to sit down and watch 'The Notebook' by himself.  Wait...that sounds really sad........um......I suppose it could be worse.  A lot worse.  I could be on fire.

Well, I've put the DVD in my laptop twice and both times my five year old laptop automatically ejected it after struggling to load it.  Perhaps a sign of things to come?  Oh well, time to switch to the Xbox.  And what do you know....it loaded.  All right, here we go.

'The Notebook' begins in a nursing home where Duke (James Garner) is reading a story to a fellow patient (Gena Rowlands).  This particular story follows Noah (Ryan Gosling), a poor lumber yard worker in South Carolina as he meets and falls in love with Allie (Rachel McAdams), an heiress in South Carolina for the summer with her parents who disapprove of Noah.  The movie cuts back and forth between the nursing home with Duke and his friend and the trials and tribulations of Noah and Allie's relationship.

So after having finally watched all 124 minutes of 'The Notebook', what did I think of it?  Honestly, I did like it.  Look...yes it is incredibly cliched with it's romantic beats.  Heck it carries some of the same beats as 'Titanic', considering both are about a poor man and a rich woman falling for each other and both feature an elderly person (or persons in the case of 'The Notebook') telling the story.  The musical score is often quite sentimental and sappy.  BUT.......it features beautiful, colorful cinematography and the performances by the four leads, particularly Garner and Rowlands, are all really good and pretty much carry the movie.  Those performances make 'The Notebook' rise above it's cliches.  And yes, this movie is incredibly sad, even taking it's sappy sentimental score out of the equation.  It's a much better movie than 'Safe Haven'.   

A few moments in the movie actually struck a personal chord.  One of the reasons for Noah and Allie's initial break-up is distance.  It's the end of the summer with Allie moving back home to New York and Noah staying put in the lumber yard in South Carolina.  One of them is more optimistic than the other about working things out despite the distance.  A similar event/discussion happened to me last year.  The other reasons for the break-up were a bit different than the ones in the movie, but distance was a big factor.  The other moment that struck a personal chord was one of the elderly characters having dementia.  A few of my great grandparents have suffered from dementia.  It's not easy knowing that a loved one who you've known your whole life has slipped mentally to the point where they no longer remember their loved ones.

Now, having said all of that regarding how 'The Notebook' struck some personal chords, it's time for the million dollar question that I'm sure you're asking:

Did I cry while watching 'The Notebook'?

Like I said for my 'Titanic' post, I'm going to plead the fifth on that one.  But I'll tell you what.  If you know me and know how I react to things, you can figure out for yourself if I cried or not while watching this movie.

Now since I liked the movie, will I go back and read the book?

Of course not.  Are you crazy? 

So that's 'The Notebook', the fifth installment of "I Finally Watched...".  Since it's been a long while since I last did anything with this series, please leave a comment below or comment on this link on Facebook.  If you liked this movie or disliked it, let me know.  If you have thoughts on this post in general, let me know.  I always welcome feedback.  After all, if there is anything that needs changed, fixed or added I can't do that unless someone gives feedback and suggests it. 

So what will the next movie be for this series?  I'm not entirely sure.  I'm going to be busy during the next two months so we'll see if I end up watching something for this series or not.