No one should ever be forced to make the kind of decision Rachel McAdams is faced with in the engaging 40's-era romance, The Notebook.
Allie (Rachel McAdams) is a wealthy, ambitious young woman on her way to a prestigious college with no time for romance when she meets Ryan Gosling's Noah Calhoun. Yes, he's poor and uneducated and only gets her to agree to a date through a suicide threat, but Allie finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. He's got that goofy charm that she can't resist, and it isn't long before they find themselves tongue-deep in the most intense summer romance ever. Oh, this summer is what dreams are made of. They swim, and they watch stoplights, and they...visit condemned mansions... But mostly they make out. Summer must eventually come to an end, however, and she decides that she wants nothing else than to ditch college and make her future with him. But not if her overbearing parents have anything to do with it.
There's some fighting and yelling and screamining, and off she goes to college and out of his life forever. Ryan Gosling sends her letters every day, but they're consistently interrupted by Allie's mom (played by Joan Allen) who knows that boy isn't right for her daughter. So Allie and Noah are both left waiting to hear from one another, and, after a full year goes by without any sort of contact, they both realize they've gotta get over it.
Then suddenly there that war, and Rachel McAdams finds herself at the hospital taking care of wounded soldiers. The soldiers are, of course, delighted to have the star of Mean Girls nursing their wounds. One asks her out, and she jokingly replies that they can talk about that after he gets out of the full-body cast. But then who's more shocked than Rachel McAdams to discover that underneath that full-body cast is the human force of undistilled dreaminess that is James Marsden. Surprise!
He's rich, her parents love him, and one quick "holy shit, we're so in love" sequence later, they're getting married. But not before she sorts out some things from her past out first.
She's totally over Ryan Gosling, but, wait...what? He wrote her every day? Her bitch mom had just been intercepting the letters? He never stopped loving her?
Enter the big decision. Should she go back to her first love, or should she do what's dreamy and rich for her? It's not going to be easy.
Mind you, all of this is periodically interrupted by a present day frame story involving a sweet old man reading this story to an elderly woman suffering massive memory loss due to dementia. Can you guess who these people are?
Unfortunately, as per usual, the elderly almost sink the entire movie. It's nice to know that the romance lasted forever, but...holy shit, they're depressing. I'm not going to go into details, but I felt, uh...a little manipulated by the ending. It was, uh... a little over-the-top. (Keep in mind this is "over-the-top" in comparison to the rest of the film I just described.) But I guess this is from the same writer who brought us A Walk to Remember, so sometimes you just have to accept these things.
The rest of the film is full-on romance, with all the actors putting their respective "lovable but realistically so" modes in high gear. Apparently, Rachel McAdams beat out Britney Spears for the role of Allie, and...thank god. While Crossroads was pretty bitchin', this is a movie that can do better. This is a movie that almost begs to be skewed into a second-rate campfest, but it's the charm and chemistry of the actors involved which help rise it into a (gasp) engaging romance. It's nice because...when does that ever happen? Ryan Gosling pulls off "the sweetest guy who's ever existed" without a hitch and James Marsden pulls off his "dremier than Mulholland Dr." role just as well; but most surprising of all is Rachel McAdams. Who expected the bitchiest high schooler since Heather Chandler to pull off such a slice-of-heaven role? She's fantastic and delightful, and it's nice to see that she has more than the one mode.
All in all, I found The Notebook to be everything I could hope for and more. I recommend it for all people who have hearts. And appreciate hotness.
Take turns taking shots every time...
-Rachel McAdams screams!
-Joan Allen disapproves!
-A scene takes place on or near a body of water!
-Somebody wears a stupid hat!
-A character is put in mortal danger (or dies)!
-Ryan Gosling ends up shirtless!
OR make up your own! The possibilities are endless, and I invite you to enjoy this movie on that extra level.