Dear John a sweet Valentine's Day film

Dear John

Directed by Lasse Hallström
Starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried
Opens February 5

If you love A Walk to Remember, or The Notebook, it's pretty much guaranteed that you’ll fall in love with Nicholas Sparks’ newest novel-turned-film, Dear John. Surprisingly, there are fewer tears than expected, but there are tears nonetheless.

The love story between John Tyree (Channing Tatum) and Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) is pretty typical of a Sparks novel. John is a Special Forces soldier on a two-week leave on the U.S. east coast, when he meets and falls in love with Savannah. They blissfully spend the remainder of that time together surfing, beach partying, building houses (yes, really), and just being the perfect couple. Tyree inevitably has to go back to his station in Germany, so they promise to learn everything about each other via the old-fashioned method of writing letters until his return the following year.

There’s no doubt that Tatum and Seyfried’s performances are convincing and they accomplished their roles as lovebirds without flaw. They're both good-looking actors, and they look even better together. However, the most astonishing performance came from Richard Jenkins, who is John's father in a sub-story in the film.

Jenkins plays a tear-jerking role as a parent who has a difficult time showing affection to his son for reasons that go beyond a dysfunctional family. The way he goes about his daily life in a cycle of repetitive patterns has the audience questioning if he has some sort of psychological problems. The suffocating tension and distress he goes through in social situations is heartbreaking and affective. I don’t think there was a person in the audience who didn’t fall in love with Jenkins’ character and want to reach out and comfort him when John couldn’t.

Also in the story is Alan, a six-year-old boy with Autism. The role is played by Braeden Reed, who is autistic in real life. The subtle parallels between Jenkins’ character and Alan make for a touching story, and in a way also educates the audience about autism and how people affected by it live their lives.

Another insightful aspect of the film was that of the young soldier’s life as being part of the Special Forces. The audience gets to see the bond between him and his division friends, and the "leave no man behind" mentality. As I was exiting the theatre, a couple behind me was commenting on how accurately the life of a soldier was captured, from the costumes down to the mannerisms. I took this comment seriously, and found myself satisfied with how accurately the film portrayed military life.

I would recommend the film to anyone, especially now with Valentine’s Day around the corner. Granted, there are a few tacky scenes, but what can you expect from a romance? The beginning of the movie starts out with Tyree saving Seyfried’s purse, which fell in the ocean. She then feels indebted to him because “her whole life was in that purse, and she wouldn’t know what to do without it.” If you can overlook a handful of those scenes, this movie’s golden.