The Sparks Oeuvre: The Lucky One (movie)

Tagline: I can't find one. 

IMDb description: A Marine travels to Louisiana after serving three tours in Iraq and searches for the unknown woman he believes was his good luck charm during the war. 

Roger Ebert review: two and a half stars ("Luck is putting it mildly")

Female protagonist: Beth (Taylor Schilling)

Male protagonist: Logan (Zac Efron)

Star supporting cast: Blythe Danner as Beth's nana; Jay R. Ferguson as Beth's ex-husband, Keith Clayton

Background: This film is the first Sparks adaptation to be directed by an Oscar-nominated director! Scott Hicks was nominated for Best Director for "Shine" back in 1996. He didn't win, but he directed Geoffrey Rush to a Best Actor Oscar. This film came out four years after the last High School Musical movie, and it's Efron's push into being seen as an "adult" actor and not just that kid who made musicals for Disney. It works because he is....not a kid in this movie :)

The movie starts with Logan (Efron) providing voiceover about how life can change quickly and we never know when it will. We then go to Logan in Iraq. A morning after a night raid, he just standing around the rubble when something gleaming in it catches his eye. He steps over to it and finds a picture of a woman with the words "Be safe" written on the back. Then an explosion occurs right where he had been standing....finding the photo literally saved his life. He keeps the picture (after asking around to no avail to see if it belongs to someone), and he ends up surviving a few other near-death experiences. His friend and him joke about how the woman in the picture has made him lucky. 

Logan returns home and, feeling awash and that he owes this woman a thank you, he sets out on foot from Denver to Louisiana (he did some internet sleuthing to find the town where the picture with the woman was taken in. Just go with it; as Ebert says in his review: "I'm not going to say anything at all about the odds of that happening. The odds are overwhelming against anything in any movie happening, so I should just shut up and pay attention.").  

He finds her, he doesn't tell her at first why he's there, he starts working for her and her Nana at their dog kennel, they fall in love, she finds out he has the picture and is angry, he feels bad, someone dies, and they end up kissing in the morning sun. It's all very romantic. 

The film keeps the basic story of the novel, but tightens it up. It spends much less time detailing Logan's time in Iraq (it's just the opening scene) and gets way less into the detail with Beth's ex, Keith (the novel has chapters that were from his point of view and I hated them). It also doesn't explicitly address that Logan is kind of a stalker. In the novel Beth actually confronts him and tells him he's a stalker. The movie softens this a bit and never outright says that his behavior is definitely obsessive. However, when a person is attractive or we like them, then actions that would generally seem stalkerish and obsessive get overlooked (especially in movies!). 

I've said it many times before, but having a good director that can get good performances from his actors makes all the difference. It's what elevates mediocre Sparks adaptations to great ones. Zac Efron gives a wonderful performance; he's quiet, contemplative, never moving more than he has to, forceful when he needs to be, charming, and romantic. Taylor Schilling, at this basically unknown and starring in her first movie (lucky her!), really sells Beth. She plays every emotion across her face and in her eyes, she's vulnerable and a little unsure of herself and when she gets her big moment of standing up for herself she nails it. 

This is also probably the most sexy of the Sparks adaptations. I know we have The Notebook, which has really been the only one to have an out-and-out sex scene, but to me this one is better (and hotter). It's a different relationship between Logan and Beth. Noah and Allie fell in love young and are both loud characters; Logan and Beth are the opposite and while their connection is no less strong, beautiful, and passionate it is displayed and conveyed differently (and really directed and acted well by everyone involved). 

This is likely in the top three of Sparks movies for me, probably second after A Walk to Remember, even with it's slightly melodramatic ending that sees someone die (this IS Sparks after all). Logan and Beth are characters I like (and her son Ben is truly adorable in every sense). I accept the misunderstandings and untold secrets because they are two lonely and lost people that needed to find each other and I want them to get their happy ending. 

The Sparks Oeuvre: The Last Song (movie)

Tagline: A Story About Family, First Loves, Second Chances, and the Moments in Life That Lead You Back Home

IMDb description: A rebellious girl is sent to a Southern beach town for the summer to stay with her father. Through their mutual love of music, the estranged duo learn to reconnect. (this description is so weird because music is honestly not what helps them reconnect)

Roger Ebert review: two and a half stars ("Miley Meets Cute over a spilled milkshake")

Female protagonist: Veronica "Ronnie" Miller (Miley Cyrus)

Male protagonist: Will Blakelee (Liam Hemsworth)

Star supporting cast: Greg Kinnear as Ronnie's dad; Kelly Preston as Ronnie's mom; Bobby Coleman as Ronnie's brother (I only note him because he was the kid star of the movie I worked on in 2009, Snowmen 

Background: the second Sparks adaption to be released in 2010, the only time there were two Sparks in one year. This came two months after Dear John and was the first to have a screenplay by Sparks himself. He actually started the screenplay first as a vehicle for Miley Cyrus, which made reading the book interesting. This film is also infamous/famous for being how Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth met. They dated on/off for ten years before getting married in late 2018 and then divorced in 2019. (Yes I know too much because it's one of those celebrity relationships I was inexplicably invested in.)

Since the screenplay is written by Sparks, there's not too much that's different from the novel. Sparks is still trying way too hard to make Ronnie an outcast. When she first arrives, against her will, for a summer with her dad and brother, she walks on the beach and gets stared at by all the other girls there in their swimsuits. Because Ronnie is wearing jeans and boots. That would get stares from anyone; it does not make Ronnie an outcast or the others girls mean. 

Sparks, however, loves his gender stereotypes and almost all of the girls are mean and have it out for Ronnie. The mean girls try to break up Ronnie and Will by giving her bad information. Will even says the classic, tropiest of lines "You're not like other girls." Yes, Ronnie is different because she wants to save sea turtle eggs nesting near her dad's home and is....nice. It's all very surface-level. 

Which is to be expected, as this is a story centered on teens and their drama, angst, and love. It's fine for certain demographics, but I'm beyond the age where any of it feels compelling. 

The story ends in sad tragedy, as Ronnie's dad is dying of stomach cancer. He's kept it a secret (is this a thing people do in real life?) so he can enjoy one final summer with his kids. He and Ronnie patch things up before he passes, and it's actually very sweet that Ronnie chooses to stay and take care of her dad when the summer is over. 

If you're curious about seeing a celebrity relationship where it began, this could be a good watch for pure anthropological purposes. If not, then it can definitely be skipped. 

The Sparks Oeuvre: Dear John (movie)

 Tagline: What would you do with a letter that changed everything?

IMDb description: A romantic drama about a soldier that falls for a conservative college student while he's home on leave (this is truly a strange description that labels Savannah as "conservative" which has no bearing on the story). 

Roger Ebert review: two stars ("....heartbreaking story of two lovely young people who fail to find happiness together because they're trapped in an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel.")

Male protagonist: John Tyree (Channing Tatum)

Female protagonist: Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried)

Star supporting cast: Richard Jenkins, the best character actor out there, as John's coin-collecting dad; Henry Thomas as Savannah's friend/future love 

Background: This is the fifth Sparks adaption and also the fifth Sparks book! The movie was released in February, which is a perfect time for a Sparks movie to hit theaters as by this point a Sparks movie was shorthand for a romantic "chick-flick" and it likely had a marketing campaign geared towards Valentine's Day. Also, for whatever reason this film was not produced by Denise Di Novi, who had a producer credit on all previous Sparks adaptations except The Notebook. 

I think I like the movie adaption more than it's source. The movie makes some weird changes with characters that aren't necessary, but it also cuts out some unnecessary elements that make the story tighter. As with most Sparks adaptations, the movie leaves out all the religious stuff (it's pretty minor in this book). The director is truly the key to a good Sparks adaptation, and Lasse Hallstrom does a decent job with this one (he's the only person to director two Sparks adaptations). He has very pretty if not exceptional actors in Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, but he manages to give each of them two knockout scenes. 

For Tatum, he actually gets two knockout scenes, which is fine because he's the main character. The first is when he's returned home immediately after 9/11. He gets a short leave before presumably re-enlisting, but doesn't know how to tell Savannah since he had been nearing the end of this commitment and both were excited for planning their future together. Faced with John being gone even longer and in a more dangerous situation is more than Savannah can take. John has a moment with Savannah where he just pours his heart out and ends with "just tell me what to do?". Tatum plays this so well, showing John's struggle between his commitment to Savannah and to the military. 

His second comes in my favorite scene (probably of all Sparks adaptations). His father is in the hospital near the end of his life. John and his dad have had a strained relationship most of his adult life, not for lack of love but for understanding. But since Savannah he had started seeing his dad differently and was understanding him better. He writes a letter to his dad, a letter that encompasses all his love. At first he just gives it to his dad to read later, but he realizes that's not possible and decides he'll read it out loud to his dying dad. Tatum knocks this out of the park. He has just the right amount of emotion. The quick tears leaving his eyes. And his dad slowly puts his hand on his head and the two hug and cry together. This brings me to tears every time I watch it. Both Tatum and Richard Jenkins kill in this scene. 

Savannah makes some truly baffling decisions, with the motivation seemingly being that she's in a Nicholas Sparks adaptation so there has to be angst. I don't want to downplay or overlook her feelings and how having John gone and the stress of worrying about his safety while's deployed affected her. BUT. Instead of, I don't know, talking through it with him or a professional, she instead starts writing less. Then makes the truly baffling decision to instead get married to a family friend who is sick with cancer and has an autistic son. She believes that being a wife, mother, and caretaker is an easier choice than waiting for John to come home. 

For most of the film, Amanda Seyfried plays Savannah as sweet and loving and frankly she doesn't have much to do. But near the end of the film she's given a scene that lets her showcase Savannah's pent up anger and exhaustion, as she tells John how difficult it was for her when he was away. I feel her struggle and pain. I just wish she had found a way to express that before she decided to tell him she was engaged when she Dear John'd him (also, the letter serves as a breakup letter but it's also her announcement to John that's she's engaged, so technically she cheated on him and that's not cool).

There is one truly baffling scene (it's in the book, too), where John is visiting Savannah in her new life. Somehow wine is spilled on both their shirts; John goes to the bathroom to wash it out (what??) and Savannah goes into her room to completely change her blouse (okay?). These are both baffling choices, but there are more! Savannah doesn't close her door when she's changing her blouse, also is not wearing a bra even though she was out riding and working with the horses earlier (not one to judge other women not wearing bras, but it seems highly unlikely in this scenario she wouldn't be wearing one), and John sees her in the mirror from the bathroom. They just stare at each other for a moment and it is truly bizarre. 

As mentioned previously, the truly moving relationship of the film is the one between John and his father. Richard Jenkins, who is marvelous in everything, plays John's father so quietly perfect of an adult man that was never officially diagnosed as on the Autism spectrum. John is always a little bit exasperated by him, as he's a good father that has provided for him but John has never been able to connect with him. They once shared a love of chasing and collecting coins, but John grew out of that. 

I feel like this review craps a bit on the movie, and gives the sense that I didn't care for it. And maybe it's not my favorite because of the scenarios that seem to only exist because a Sparks plot dictates strife and tragedy. However, the scene with John and his dad always redeems it for me. Give it a watch if you've never seen it. 

The Sparks Oeuvre: Dear John (novel)

 Nicholas Sparks' fifth novel is Dear John, published in 2006 and 4 years after his previous novel, Nights in Rodanthe. It's in stark contrast to that novel - focusing on young love, autism, duty to country after 9/11, being in the military, and moving through and past relationships. It was inevitable in my eyes that Sparks would write a story that uses 9/11 as a story device. Lots of people have done it since then, and art is nothing if not a reflection of the time it is made in.  

This Sparks story gives us John Tyree, on home for two weeks of leave in Wilmington, N.C. (classic Sparks setting) where he meets college student Savannah Lynn Curtis. She's also there for a few weeks building a home for a family, Habitat for Humanity-style. They meet when he retrieves her bag when it falls off the pier and into the ocean. In true Sparks fashion, they fall and it's deep and fast in two weeks. John has to leave back to Germany due to his commitments to the Army, and they agree to write to one another while he's gone. Their life and plans for the future are interrupted by the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and after he reenlists much to Savannah's dismay he eventually receives a "Dear John" letter. 

The story is told from John's point of view, and it, surprise surprise, starts in the present and then has John tell us the story. This is entirely unnecessary; it doesn't add any suspense to the story and it's only used at the beginning and the end. Several of his other novels had the narrator checking in during the present but that doesn't happen here. For whatever reason, Sparks likes his readers going into his stories questioning if the characters are still together. 

Because of this choice, Savannah isn't really a full character. She's kind of like Jamie in A Walk to Remember. She's there to help the main character on his journey. That's not a bad thing outright, but I kind of like his stories more when they focus on both the male and female protagonists. Sparks writes her as deferential. Whenever her and John get into an argument, she always says "You were right." even though, in my opinion, that is incorrect! 

For his part, John has what I would say are some issues with anger. Savannah shares an honest thought about John's dad with him, and while possibly a bit out of line it wasn't hurtful or mean. John yells at her, then gets in a fist fight with the dudes Savannah is working on the house with. When Savannah shares that she was sexually assaulted her first year of college, John's reaction is not to comfort Savannah but instead say that he'll beat the guy up (and Savannah sincerely is like "thank you so much that means a lot" like whaaaaaat?). When they get into another argument based on competing expectations of their time together when he's on leave again, he's rude and again yells at her. And she again is like "You were right, I'm sorry."

Also, John and Savannah's guy friend, Tim, talk a lot about Savannah in a way that seems....not inappropriate but slightly uncalled for. Tim provides a lot of feedback and acts as a sounding board for John, when really he should have been talking to Savannah. The gender dynamics are a bit weird, to say the least. 

Sparks gives Savannah and John a real predicament in their relationship - how to keep it strong and together when one half of the relationship is across the world? He does highlight the strain it puts on the relationship during the small interludes they get when John is on leave. However, he squanders most of it by having Savannah send the "Dear John" letter because basically the two can't communicate. It feels like a Katie/Greg from The Bachelorette situation and it's overall just frustrating. 

What's interesting about Dear John is that Sparks has a secondary relationship that feels just as important as the romantic one - the one between John and his dad. It really is quite beautiful to see John accept his dad for who is, and then to take care of his dad as his health deteriorates. In some ways it's better than the relationship between John and Savannah. 

The book is good, not great.

The Sparks Oeuvre: Nights in Rodanthe (movie)

 

Tagline: It's never too late for a second chance. 

IMDb description: A doctor, who is travelling to see his estranged son, sparks with an unhappily married woman at a North Carolina inn. 

Roger Ebert review: one and a half stars ("A Leaky Weeper" is the title of a truly great review)

Male protagonist: Dr. Paul Flanner (Richard Gere)

Female protagonist: Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane)

Star supporting cast: Viola Davis as Adrienne's best friend; Christopher Meloni as Adrienne's cheating husband; uncredited James Franco as Paul's son; Mae Whitman as Adrienne's daughter

Background: Gere and Lane starred together as married couple in 2002's Unfaithful, the Adrian Lyne sexy thriller that earned Lane an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. That same year, Nights in Rodanthe was published, and made it's way to this adaptation in 2008. As the fourth Sparks movie adaptation (and fourth adaption!), it's the first to nearly completely miss the mark. 

For the most part, the story from the novel is the same. However, for the first time in the Oeuvre, the changes that were made for the screen feel detrimental to the film. The biggest change, for me, is the update in Adrienne's marital status. In the novel, she's been divorced for three years, but in the movie she's just separated from her cheating husband. Separated is still married, and I just don't like that this means Adrienne is technically cheating. This change effectively removes the lovely arc in the book of Adrienne and Paul both having the new versions of themselves post-divorce be discovered and loved by someone else. 

The book uses the Sparks-loved device of flashback to tell the story. None of the adaptations have kept this device (except, of course, The Notebook, as it's actually integral to the story) and this is the first time where I felt like it was actually needed. Without it, we lose all sense of Adrienne's journey. We lose the scope. We lose meaning in her choices and the way she has learned to live with the loss. None of it translates with the shortened time frame of the film. 

 Nights in Rodanthe underscores how important the director is in making a Sparks adaption really work. Director George C Wolfe has a great cast, but he mostly squanders it. Gere and Lane were great as a married couple in Unfaithful, and they do their best here but are saddled with a bad script and very bad staging. Wolfe bizarrely stages a dinner scene between the two where I was sure Gere wasn't actually there and Lane was acting against a stand-in; then he frames them each against a yellow wall in medium close-ups and it looks so very bad. He can't direct a proper kissing scene, as I was sure Paul was going to devour Adrienne's face. The visual effects are terrible, and the post hurricane scenes are laughable when their intent is to be tragic.  

This adaptation felt distinctly like most involved did not understand the essence of the book, and just wanted to cash in on the popularity of the last Sparks adaptation, The Notebook; at this point in the timeline of the Sparks Oeuvre it's become the standard and created/enforced the shorthand we know today as "a Nicholas Sparks movie." Unfortunately, it takes more than attractive actors to make a good Sparks adaption. 

The Sparks Oeuvre: The Notebook (movie)

 

Tagline: Behind every great love is a great story. 

IMDb description: A poor yet passionate young man falls in love with a rich young woman, giving her a sense of freedom, but they are soon separated because of social differences. 

Roger Ebert review: three and a half stars

Male protagonist: Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling, young; James Garner, old)

Female protagonist: Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams, young; Gena Rowlands, old)

Star supporting cast: Pulitzer Prize Winner Sam frickin' Shephard as Noah's dad, Joan Allen as Allie's mom

Background: This was Sparks' first novel, but his third to be adapted to a film. However, according to his commentary in the DVD extras, the film rights were sold before the film was even finished. There were various directors and actors attached (Spielberg, Cruise) but for whatever reasons nothing was ever a go and it ended up being the third film adaptation. Whatever those reasons were seem to have worked out just fine, as the film was a smash and is generally seen as the quintessential Sparks movie. 

If I had read the book first, well before it became a movie, I likely would have been pretty pleased with the adaptation. It stays pretty true to the story and characters, but adds a lot more to the beginning of the story. In the book, Noah and Allie's summer romance takes up about 2-3 pages. The movie, though, spends almost half of the movie on the summer romance. We see them meet, dance in the street, ride bikes together, meet parents. We experience the passion and sometimes volatility of their love. They fight and don't always agree, but they always make up because they truly love each other. 

This extra time with Allie and Noah is pivotal to understanding their relationship. We've seen them fight and laugh and get frustrated with each other. Most notably in their break up at the end of summer, when they go from declarations of love to crying to screaming to apologizing to leaving. When they have reunited, and Allie must choose between Noah and her fiance, Lon, she's given the straight truth by Noah - sometimes they'll fight and he'll tell her when she's being a pain in the ass but they'll work on it because they love each other. 

I used to think their fighting was a bit much. However, I watched the film with the director Nick Cassavetes commentary and it changed my perspective. He said he made Allie and Noah fight and yell in the film because, being Greek, he felt that was normal in relationships (and then said that perhaps those from colder ancestries maybe felt different and I felt that as a person with Danish ancestry haha). Anyway, Cassavetes made great choices with the film that really set it apart and I think he was perfect for it. I especially liked his stance on Lon - that if Allie had met him first he likely would have been her one true love, but it was really a matter of timing not him being a bad person. James Marsden plays Lon so perfectly. 

The film holds up really well after all these years, I think because of the great actors involved and a director who knew exactly what he wanted. It feels the most grandiose and epic and passionate of the Sparks films (to this point) and I recommend it. 

The Sparks Oeuvre: The Notebook (book)

Well, I've made it to THE Nicholas Sparks book--The Notebook.  It was Sparks' first published novel, arriving in 1996 and becoming an immediate bestseller. It's the standard that all Nicholas Sparks novels (and movies) are compared to. Since I'm reading in order of the films being released, I'm reading this third and it's interesting to read this knowing what comes after. 

The Notebook is about love. First love, reunited love, and forever love. Noah and Allie meet one summer when her wealthy family is summering in his town. They quickly fall in love, but get separated due to class, miscommunication, WWII, and just time. Fourteen years later, Allie is engaged and, when she sees a photo of Noah in the paper with a home he refinished, impulsively decides she needs to see him. Despite being engaged, she and still has feelings. So does Noah. Their young, first love is the real deal and Allie has to make a choice between her fiance, Lon, and Noah. The story then goes back to the present, with Noah reading the story to Allie from a notebook because she has Alzheimer's and reading to her is his daily task. Of course Alzheimer's is degenerative and memories don't come back, but this is a story about love and how it can create miracles. For brief moments Noah will get Allie back. But Noah is also old and his body failing, and the two share their final(?) moments together laying next to each other. 

Sparks is able to fit in all the stages of love by skimming over over Allie and Noah falling in love (seriously, it's like 2-3 pages) and spending the bulk of the story on their reunion. This mostly works, and probably is helped because I have the movie in my mind while reading and it spends a lot more time on the falling. But he nicely works in background details through their conversation and inner thoughts. He then spends the last quarter or so of the book with older Noah and Allie. They married and had kids and were happy, until she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and eventually had to be placed in a care center. They're past the passionate, reunited love stage of their relationship that dominated most of the book and are in caretaker mode. It's no less full of love though, as it's Noah's love for Allie that keeps both of them going. She wrote out their love story before her memory was completely gone and asked him to read it to her. 

It has become clear that Sparks has a few storytelling devices he likes to use. First, he loves to start a story in the present day and then spend the book having a character(s) look back on the past and their relationship. Theresa does it with her and Garrett's story, Landon with his and Jamie's story, and now Noah does it with his and Allie's story. However, with The Notebook, the device actually feels integral to the story. Noah is reading his and Allie's love story because she is suffering from Alzheimer's and actually can't remember their love story. This is inspired. The other books use the device as a crutch, either to lend some mystery to what happened or just because he wanted to set a story in the 50s. 

I don't think the fourteen years between their reunion works. I get that WWII probably hindered Allie's dating life a little, but it seems fairly unrealistic that a woman of her class and wealth would still be unmarried at 29 in the late 1940s. Noah, as a man in a world that catered to men (especially in the post-WWII America) could absolutely still be single at 31; he wouldn't need a wife to enjoy or participate in society the way Allie would need a husband. 

In this first novel, Sparks really sets a tone for what kind of stories he wants to tell. He hits all the best marks that have become his calling card. There's a reason why you never forget your first.