The film 'The Notebook'

[Quiddity Glomfuster]

This movie's on in a while. It's ringing a little 'I've heard that's good' bell in my noggin but, despite my searching for it, I found no mention of it on SDMB. So am I suffering from brain feebleness brought on by not having had dinner yet? Am I mixing it up with a similarly-titled movie that some Dopers are madly fond of? Or have my search skills gone to pot of a lazy Saturday?

[ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies]

This movie's on in a while. It's ringing a little 'I've heard that's good' bell in my noggin but, despite my searching for it, I found no mention of it on SDMB. So am I suffering from brain feebleness brought on by not having had dinner yet? Am I mixing it up with a similarly-titled movie that some Dopers are madly fond of? Or have my search skills gone to pot of a lazy Saturday?

Not sure about your memory or what other Dopers thought of it, but my overall reaction was "Meh." 3 out of 5 cookies.

In a parallel universe, it was a movie made by Lifetime.

[Quiddity Glomfuster]

Not sure about your memory or what other Dopers thought of it, but my overall reaction was "Meh." 3 out of 5 cookies.

In a parallel universe, it was a movie made by Lifetime.

Thanks!

[Elysian]

I kind of liked it, probably because it is a type of movie that I just don't ever watch, and the novelty was interesting. But it's really kind of simple and tries too hard to move you. Very simple plot, very very predictable, if you care about an interesting storyline then you might want to watch something else.

[Chum]

It's one of my favorite movies. It's probably the best chick flick I've ever seen (even my dad and and my boyfriend loved it). It's very well acted (IMO), and I didn't think the story was too simple. As for trying too hard to move you - probably true. But it works.

Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are both smokin' hot, so that helps too.

[Siam Sam]

It's one of my favorite movies. It's probably the best chick flick I've ever seen (even my dad and and my boyfriend loved it). It's very well acted (IMO), and I didn't think the story was too simple. As for trying too hard to move you - probably true. But it works.

Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are both smokin' hot, so that helps too.
The wife and I both liked it a lot. And our favorite reviewer, Roger Ebert, gave it a big thumbs up, so if you can judge your tastes against his, that might give you an idea of whether you might like it.

I dislike the term "chick flick" myself. As far as I'm concerned, a good movie is worth watching no matter the genre. The only genre I'll avoid no matter what is horror.

[drm]

Hailing from the deep South, where he's poor as a church mouse and she's rich as cotton, they are perforce star-crossed lovers. No problem there. Alas, hailing from a deep South lifted off the schlock pages of a Nicholas Sparks novel, they are star-crossed lovers coated in a goop of sentimental molasses so thick as to induce diabetic coma. Big problem there. Be warned then: The Notebook is meant to be a romantic weepy, and you will shed tears - but only from the consistent and exhausting effort of trying to control your gag reflex. Even a body that welcomes a sugar fix will repel a sugar invasion.

This is a good explanation of my feelings on the Notebook. I hated this movie. I love Rachel McAdams and I think Ryan Gosling is destined to be viewed as one of the great actors, but I thought this movie was terrible. I'm not going to watch it again so that I can be more articulate about it and I do have trouble with specifics, but I remember have huge problems with a lot of the characters actions as well as how a lot of specific scenes are written together. My biggest problem, however, is that every bloody scene seemed to be an attempt to make you cry and eventually I just lost my patience.

Oh, and the ending was awful.

Just in case you think this isn't my type of movie, my second favorite movie is Sense and Sensibility.

[Quiddity Glomfuster]

Much appreciate the opinions. I never get around to renting films so I wait till they hit the tube but by the time they make it to TV I've sometimes forgotten that I'd wanted to see them. I almost missed Seabiscuit because of that. Notebook, as I said, seems to ring a bell but since it's made-for-TV, I must be mixing it up with another film.

The channel Notebook is on has managed to stretch it to three hours; I generally have qualms about dedicating that much of my life to a film unless it's one that's generally regarded as wonderful.

[DaddyTimesTwo]

It certainly isn't a great movie, and it is very manipulative. And I saw the ending coming but cried anyway. I guess it just depends on what you're looking for.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

All I remember is a scene from the trailer with some douchebag hanging from a ferris wheel threatening to drop and kill himself if some chick doesn't go out with him. The movie apparently thought that this kind of behavior was "cute." Other than that it looked like a standard, cliche riddled chick flick.

[Campion]

Other than that it looked like a standard, cliche riddled chick flick.Ah, but you've left off its claim to fame (spoilered for the anti-tabloid crowd):
Jessica Simpson decided to dump Nick Lachey after watching it on an airplane. It's true! CNN says so! (http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/05/people.jessicasimpson.ap/index.html)

[Skammer]

It made me want to gouge my eyes out. The scene that Diogenes describes occurred early in the film, and instantly caused me to hate the Ryan Gosling character. Throughout the movie I was routing for their relationship to fail. I'm spoiling the ending I was hoping for, which would have made the movie all-time great film:
I held out hope that James Garner character was not actually the elder Ryan Gosling, as hinted throughout the film, but that he was actually the guy that Allie later became engaged to. In other words, she went on ahead and married the nice, stable, mature fiancee instead of leaving him for the immature, brooding artist who first got her attention by threatening to kill himself. If the movie had ended that way, it would have avoided the cliche, taken a risk and been a really interesting movie.

[Quiddity Glomfuster]

I'm spoiling the ending I was hoping for, which would have made the movie all-time great film:

Oh, silly. You want Hollywood (or its pale imitation) to create a film in which love is mature and adult and develops through time rather than being an off-the wall 'fated' result of nothing more than 'attraction' based on .... um...... well maybe lust but little else? But, but that's not what 'Love'* is.





*Coloured a frothy vapid colour to indicate the frothy, vapid 'romance' version of love that pop culture loves to propagate.