The Notebook

The Notebook still stands as one of the quintessential romances of Hollywood history, and considering how prevalent the genre is, that isn’t something to sneeze at. Based on a 1996 Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name, a lot of Sparks’ romantic work has been adapted into recognizable albeit easily mockable movies like Dear John, Message in a Bottle, and A Walk to Remember, but The Notebook was easily the most successful of the bunch. While it didn’t do very well critically at the time, it was a sleeper hit at the box office and eventually developed a cult following who were more than willing to keeps its schmaltz legacy alive. Even though on the outside, it just appears to be another sappy lovefest that banks on the attractiveness of its leads to keep people invested, but upon inspecting the picture, you’d be delighted to learn that it can stand on its own two feet and doesn’t need to rely on lustful casuals to keep it afloat. In a nursing home, an elderly woman (played by Gena Rowlands) finds it hard to keep herself occupied, but she is approached by an old man named Duke (played by James Garner) who decides to read her a romantic story about two young lovers in Southern California during the1940s. A young lumber worker named Noah (played by Ryan Gosling) and an heiress to a wealthy family, Allie (Rachel McAdams) spend the summer falling head over heels for each other, but this romance may not be able to last, as Allie’s parents, particularly her mother, Anne (played by Joan Allen), don’t see a future for her with Noah due to his poorer status. Having to move back to Charleston after a pretty bad break-up, Allie and Noah are separated and decide to put the relationship behind them now that they believe the other has moved on. With Allie having fallen in love and set to wed the wealthy Captain Lon Hammond Jr. (played by James Marsden) and Noah having dedicated his time to rebuilding a dilapidated house he envisioned would be a future home for he and Allie, the two unexpectedly cross paths again and are forced to determine whether they hold onto their still clearly apparent attraction, or diverge forever and go their separate ways. The Notebook is an overly sentimental picture that doesn’t try to hide its intentions and isn’t providing anything astronomically different for the genre, but in a time where these kinds of romances so often fall flat for feeling disingenuous, this one does do enough to earn its cult status.

Being written by Sparks over a period of six months in 1994, the original novel was noticed by literary agent, Theresa Park, who decided to represent him after finding the story in her slush pile and enjoying what she saw. Upon publication in 1996, it quickly became a best seller, so it’s of now surprise that a movie adaptation was eventually sought after, with the film rights being secured by New Line Cinema the exact same year. At first, the film actually had a pretty strong pedigree attached to it, as Oscar-winning producer Mark Johnson had already signed on, and after Jeremy Levin agreed to write the script, Steven Spielberg actually expressed interest in directing (even hoping to get Tom Cruise to play Noah). This never came to be however, as he was committed to other projects, and this continued to be the case for any other director who was set to lead this movie like Jim Sheridan or Martin Campbell, before they finally settled on Nick Cassavetes in 2002. With this being his fourth directing job (with his previous three films not doing poorly per say, but weren’t turning him into a must-have talent), it would’ve probably hurt people in the industry to see a concept that feels ripe for Oscar contention being packaged with talent some undoubtedly would’ve viewed as ‘’inferior’’. There are no real big names attached in the casting (both McAdams and Gosling weren’t real big names yet), Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi (who adapted the book into script format), didn’t have any big credentials behind their name, and while the Academy has on occasion noticed films with little star powers if they viewed the overall picture as worth their time, they would’ve more than likely paid more attention if it had bigger names both on and off the screen. With that said, this movie doesn’t require a pat on the back from its superiors, because it feels perfectly comfortable in the space that it’s formed for itself as a period romance that manages to be perfectly delightful and even slightly emotional. With a fairly familiar set up with pretty basic characters, there is a chance for failure with this, but the story itself is actually pretty good, combining this all-too-recognizable story of summer lovers fighting to be together against social norms, with a heartbreaking flash to modern day that injects a truly bittersweet human ingredient into what could’ve been just a throwaway twitterpated lovefest. The narrative doesn’t introduce any new groundbreaking concepts, but it goes at a steady pace and doesn’t treat its audience like they’re idiots by including forceful cinematic cliches, the characters aren’t Shakespeare, but are treated as more than just basic archetypes, and even if the tone and presentation can feel a little overly sentimental at times, the earnestness and even genuineness of the source and the performances helps keep it just grounded enough to be relatable and emotionally engaging.

Casting this movie wasn’t a quick process, as much is the case with a lot of movies of this variety that have the slight potential to get awards acknowledgement (moreso for the presentation, sappy tone and book origin rather than quality or freshness of its content), so a lot of people were up for contention for the leading roles. While Tom Cruise was the original first hypothetical, the other two that almost got the part were George Clooney or Hayden Christensen, both of whom didn’t work out in the long run (Clooney was almost given the part, but when he learned that he would be portrayed by Paul Newman as an older man, he said that they looked nothing alike and it didn’t work out). Ryan Gosling was eventually given the part (specifically chosen because Cassavetes wanted to cast someone who was unknown and ‘’not handsome’’ to play Noah, which is a little rude), and having not really been in any notable films outside of his breakout role in The Believer, this was the movie that propelled him into the public image. In comparison to the male lead, Allie had a lot of potential actresses considered for her, with people like Jessica Biel, Reese Witherspoon, Claire Danes, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Amy Adams, and Britney Spears just to name a few. Spears was actually one of the two finalists, but it was eventually given to Rachel McAdams, who herself was still a relatively unknown performer with her only rise to fame being her portrayal of Regina George in the hit teen movie, Mean Girls. Despite both actors being a little hit-of-miss at times, they work really well together in this, arguably helping elevate these characters above how they were originally constructed. While the plot for the story is pretty good, the characters are a little flat in terms of personality, and while watching this movie, while you can tell that these two are helplessly in love with each other, you don’t really get much else, having to rely on the charisma and passion of the actors to make them feel more complicated. Both are plucky oddballs who are ravenously into each other during this summer endeavor, and despite circumstances keeping them apart and having their fair share of fights, they do still love being around each other, and the charm of this relationship does come from how well both Gosling and McAdams work off each other, they really sell these parts and make for a relationship you are invested in. This can also be said for James Garner and Gena Rowlands playing older versions of the two after Allie has succumbed to dementia with Noah reading their life story as a book to help bring her back. While this gut punch of a reveal might’ve been a little more harrowing if they had held off on the truth until around the third act, the scenes are still very endearing, the film is smart enough to know the audience would’ve figured it out very quickly, and their ending is perfectly bittersweet. Most of the supporting roles are fairly basic, but they thankfully don’t just feel like cliched obstacles (which is how a lot of characters in romance usually operate like). People like Sam Shepard, Kevin Connolly, David Thorton and Jamie Brown are pretty good in smaller parts, and James Marsden and Joan Allen aren’t played as straight up villains like you’d expect them to, and are given moments to really feel human and sympathetic, making what could be a simple case of good versus evil not as seamless or easily worked around.

For a story that seems to glow with this bygone summery gloss that is probably meant to emulate the feeling of an age-old romance left distantly in the past, the presentation is retro enough to get that point across, even if none of its technical are really that magnificent. They aren’t done badly, and a lot of the cinematography by Robert Fraisse can be very picturesque and gorgeous to look at (especially whenever a character is out on a lake), but with the movie only having a budget of about $29 million dollars and not really featuring anything that would really come to life on a cinematic level, it’s no surprise that it doesn’t do anything that dramatically outstanding from a visual level. Even with this in mind, it’s all still handled well, it delivers on all the moments and still feels decently well laid out, so no moment feels cheap or awkwardly staged, the production design by Sarah Knowles is pretty decent, effectively capturing the look of both the rich and the poor population of 1940s American south. This can also be said for the costume design by Karyn Wagner, shown off specifically through the lead’s attires, with Gosling’s rugged, simple, blue-collar mostly unchanged garb matched against McAdams’ constantly changing, ritzy and upper class look, making for clear but unspoken contrast that does work in the film’s favor. The musical score by Aaron Zigman can be a little much at times, with an overly schmaltzy stirring symphonic quality that no doubt added to critic’s disdain for the picture and for viewing it as manipulative sappy junk (which a lot of similar movies with similarly sounding music scores were like), but the film doesn’t constantly play it up and allows a moment to just speak for itself, which is appreciated.

The Notebook may not be a critical favorite, but it was well regarded by a lot of audiences, with many couples often using the film as a way to test their standings as a romantic pairing (you should never measure your relationship by the metrics of a movie, but at least it’s a better one than Twilight). Even though it looks like a movie that would meet all the annoying components of a sappy romance of the time period, it actually manages to rise above that expectation and carry a simple, retro Americana vibe that’s akin to some classic American literature (not saying it’s on the same level of something like The Adventures of Huck Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird, but the comparison in spirit can be felt). The story is a solid engaging plot, the actors are very charming and well performed, and the mood is kept just sturdy enough to not get lost in its sentimentality, The Notebook is a story that will stick in your memory.