IMDb description: A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.
Roger Ebert review: sadly, Roger Ebert passed before this film was released, and therefore the review on his site is not by him.
Female protagonist: Amanda (Michelle Monaghan, Liana Liberato: young Amanda)
Male protagonist: Dawson (James Marsden, Luke Bracey: young Dawson)
Star supporting cast: Gerald McRaney (Major Dad) as Amanda and Dawson's mutual friend/caretaker/guardian/good person
Background: This is the ninth Sparks movie adaptation, following a string of near-annual releases since Dear John in 2010. It's also the first to have a repeat actor! James Marsden played Lon in The Notebook, a truly lovely character who just happened to meet Allie at the wrong time. Here Marsden is the long-lost love from youth that gets the second chance (according to IMDb Paul Walker was originally cast but sadly died before filming started). I originally stated that I had seen this movie before, but I was wrong. I've seen parts of it because I knew the story and key plot points, but I had definitely never watched the entire film before. For whatever reasons my view on the film was negative and I was kind of dreading watching it.
But I actually liked it! Weird, right?!
Dawson and Amanda meet as teenagers in high school in small town Louisiana. He's from a bad family that does bad stuff; she's from a rich family. But they like each regardless and form a connection that is quite lovely. Dawson is taken in by Tuck, and both Dawson and Amanda see Tuck as a father-like figure, a friendly widower who loves them both. Dawson ends up going to jail for a truly accidental death, and rather than let Amanda wait for him he tells her he won't take her visits. She's devastated (and folks, I was invested enough in the characters that I was too).
Twenty (one) years later, Tuck has died and his estate lawyer summons both Dawson and Amanda to their hometown per Tuck's will. Turns out he plays matchmaker from the grave, as he wants both of them to spread his ashes at his charming cottage retreat (where Dawson and Amanda spent some steaming time as teenagers). At first they are a bit cold to each other, stung by past pain and hurt.
But, they also feel incredibly at ease and comfortable with one another. Honestly folks, it truly is a great feeling to be around a person/people that just "get" you and know how to love you. Dawson has never stopped loving Amanda, as he says during one of their chemistry-fueled dinners. Amanda is married and treading carefully, but it's clear she's also never stopped loving Dawson. (I have to suspend my own disbelief at this as I don't really think people carry torches that long, but then again I've never been in an all-encompassing, this-is-my-soulmate love so what do I know.)
Whereas the novel spent a chapter giving the background on Dawson and Amanda, the movie spends equal time with them as teenagers and as adults. This is key to why the story works better in the movie. I really feel the love and loss between them. Also, both the young and older actors playing the couple have effortless chemistry. You believe why they would be drawn to each other as teenagers and why that would last through to being adults. I mean seriously folks, every time they are on screen it's fire.
The movie also switches up the tragedy that causes them to lose touch. The movie has the character accidentally killed be a family member and it immediately makes Dawson's story make a lot more sense. Also, their estrangement makes a lot more sense, too. In the book, I don't recall a scene of Dawson in jail telling Amanda to move on and not visit him and I was always so confused why she didn't just wait for him. Why did she get married? The whole narrative is adjusted and it makes for a better story.
The film isn't perfect. It's still burdened with Sparks' characterization of Dawson's extended family and the layers and layers of tragedy. Even with that, though, I like the characters a lot and feel even more impacted by the sad ending handed to them. Amanda, though, is at least divorced from her husband at the end of the movie and that's a win in my mind (again, I don't readily advocate for divorce willy-nilly, but it's a legitimate choice and very often the right one - happy marriages don't end in divorce and this was the right choice for Amanda).
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