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Reviews Counted:127
Fresh:36
Rotten:91
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: Built from many of the same ingredients as other Nicholas Sparks tearjerkers, Dear John suffers from its cliched framework, as well as Lasse Hallstrom's curiously detached directing.
Theatrical Release: Feb 5, 2010 Wide
Box Office: $79.6M
Synopsis: A soldier home on leave falls for a conservative college girl. Instead of returning home to her, he reenlists after the attacks on September 11th,... [More]
Starring: Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins, Henry Thomas
Director: Lasse Hallström
$14.99 to Buy, 3.99 to Rent
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What starts as a charming anachronism %u2014 pens, paper and the postal service in an impersonal digital age %u2014 becomes tedious as Hallstrom is reduced to interminable, repetitive montages covering the many months that the pair are apart.
Top CriticIt's more Scenes from a Marriage than Dirty Dancing.
Another "timeless' romance from the pen of Shakespeare-level genius Nicholas Sparks made into a mediocre movie starring pretty young people ...They have an epistolary romance.
Like a couple of hours of channel-surfing among the Travel Channel, the History Channel and Discovery Health. [Blu-ray]
Achieves its modest, unpretentious goals in an agreeable, likable fashion.
Of course, there are some things you can always count on in a Sparks adaptation - sandy locations, star-crossed lovers and searing melodrama, all tied in a neat emotionally manipulative bow.
Tatum makes what use he can of his two expressions, Seyfried does her best to perk things up and much the best performer is Richard Jenkins...
Prettifies heartache and hardship to the point where it barely has any meaning at all.
Their romance fizzles out in their letters to each other, and the plot gets lost in the post.
It's a shame the whole thing resembles a schmaltzy video for a wet female singer, as there's some real pain here and a twist that retains an impact somewhere deep in the chest.
A touching melodrama illuminated by a solid turn from Tatum.
A sucker for a cheap sob, it left me cold.
It’s fairly romantic and looks good on screen, but the plot is too slight.
The more the barriers between John and Savannah build up, becoming seemingly unmovable, the more you want to see them get back together - that's what keeps Dear John engaging until the credits roll.
The pair have got real chemistry and the long-distance love angle works nicely. Then a rubbish subplot involving illness, needy children and horses comes along, and the film spoils faster than a fish finger behind a radiator.
This is a slothful weepie, plagued by a sickly mishmash of plot strands and a gaping chemistry hole at its core.
But this is a movie that tries too hard to cover the tearjerking bases, and in doing so manages to miss every single one of them.
It's not that I don't believe in love at first sight; I do. But this love is so sugar coated and sickly, I just didn't believe in it for a moment.
Insultingly uninspired chick-flick fodder.
Once-talented director Lasse Hallström is definitely counting the cash here, while Amanda Seyfriend, Richard Jenkins and even the less substantial talents of Channing Tatum are wasted...
February 21, 2010:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Shutter Island Takes the Weekend
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio scored the biggest openings of their careers with the psychological thriller "Shutter Island," the fourth teaming between the two men, which easily led the North...
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February 7, 2010:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Avatar Finally Toppled by Dear John
This weekend in a surprise upset victory, the new romance saga Dear John booted seven-time champ Avatar from the number one spot at the North American box office powered by young women chasing after...
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February 4, 2010:
Critics Consensus: From Paris With Love Is Not Bon
This week at the movies, we've got Gallic gunplay ( From Paris With Love, starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and some sad pen pals (Dear John, starring Channing Tatum and Amanda...
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February 1, 2010:
Nicholas Sparks Talks Dear John
Hollywood loves to turn Nicholas Sparks books into movies -- the upcoming "Dear John" is one of six Sparks film adaptations. Read what he has to say about the Amanda Seyfried/Channing Tatum romance in...
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 67% | Shutter Island |
| 28% | Dear John |
| 51% | Alice in Wonderland |
| 47% | The Book of Eli |
| 19% | Cop Out |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 29% | Clash of the Titans |
| 22% | Repo Men |
| 93% | Vincere |
| 91% | La Graine et le Mulet (The Secret of the Grain) (Couscous) |
| 85% | The Art Of The Steal |
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