A very soggy movie.
The Notebook (2004)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:146
Fresh:76
Rotten:70
Average Rating:5.6/10
Consensus: Despite some touching performances, The Notebook is still a syrupy tearjerker.
Theatrical Release:Jun 25, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $81,001,787
Synopsis: A young woman comes to the coastal town of Seabrook, North Carolina in the 1940's to spend the summer with her family. Still in her teens, Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) meets local boy Noah... A young woman comes to the coastal town of Seabrook, North Carolina in the 1940's to spend the summer with her family. Still in her teens, Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) meets local boy Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) at a Carnival. On the spot, Noah senses that he and Allie are meant to be together. Though she is a wealthy debutante and he a mill worker, over the course of one passionate and carefree summer in the South, the two fall deeply in love. Circumstances - and the sudden outbreak of World War II - drive them apart, but both continue to be haunted by memories of each other. When Noah returns home from the war years later, Allie is irrevocably gone from his life, but not from his heart. Though Noah doesn't yet know it, Allie has come back to Seabrook, where they first fell in love. But now Allie is engaged to marry Lon (James Marsden), a wealthy soldier she met while volunteering in a GI hospital. Decades later, a man (James Garner) reads from a faded notebook to a woman (Gena Rowlands) he regularly visits at her nursing home. Though her memory has faded, she becomes caught up in the fiery story of Allie and Noah - and for a few moments, she is able to relive the passionate, turbulent time when they swore they'd be together always. New Line Cinema presents The Notebook, a story of lost chances, growing up and the power of enduring love. A Gran Via Production, the film is directed by Nick Cassavetes from a screenplay by Jeremy Leven, adaptation by Jan Sardi, based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks. Academy Award winner Mark Johnson (Rain Man) and Lynn Harris are the producers. The executive producers are Toby Emmerich and Avram Butch Kaplan. The film stars Ryan Gosling (The Believer), Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls), Academy Award nominees James Garner (Murphy's Romance, TV's "Eight Simple Rules") and Gena Rowlands (Gloria, A Woman Under the Influence), James Marsden (X-Men series) and Kevin Connolly (John Q.), with Academy Award nominees Sam Shepard (The Right Stuff, Black Hawk Down) and Joan Allen (The Contender, Nixon). The creative behind-the-scenes team is led by director of photography Robert Fraisse AFC (Enemy at the Gates, Vatel), editor Alan Heim A.C.E. (American History X, All That Jazz), production designer Sarah Knowles and costume designer Karyn Wagner (The Lone Ranger, The Salton Sea, The Majestic). Aaron Zigman (John Q., Fighting For Care) composed the score. Casting is by Matthew Barry, C.S.A. and Nancy Green-Keyes, C.S.A. New Line Cinema will release The Notebook (rated PG-13 by the M.P.A.A. for "some sexuality") nationwide on June 25th, 2004. [More]
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands, Sam Shepard, Joan Allen, James Marsden
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Screenwriter: Jeremy Leven, Jan Sardi
Producer: Mark Johnson, Lynn Harris
Composer: Aaron Zigman
Studio: New Line Cinema
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Release:
Feb 8, 2005
Reviews for The Notebook
Whether someone can enjoy The Notebook or not depends much of the mood in which the viewers find themselves.
It represents, in a completely uncynical form, a genre that has been so absent from American cinema for so long that a large, loved-starved audience is out there that's sure to have a weepy good time with it.
If trailers to Cassavetes' unashamed tearjerker seem interminable, try sitting through the contrived sentimental sap of the two-hour-plus film.
The movie may be highly disposable, but the individual scenes of Gosling and McAdams just acting and just connecting are wonderful to watch.
In its inability to effectively develop the modern aspect of the story, it fails to throw the tear-jerking emotional punch it might have achieved.
A shining example of how great acting can overcome even the worst script.
The Notebook is one of the most romantic movies of our generation! Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling are positively electric...READ ON->
If not for some inspired moments of breathtaking beauty and heartfelt performances, it would just be one of those tired love stories that you quickly forget.
There are weepies and weepies. And The Notebook may be the most effective one in nearly a decade -- since the film version of The Bridges of Madison County.
Achieves its purpose of emotional manipulation that will likely pay off handsomely at the boxoffice with all those folks who are only too happy to soak a few hankies.
Sparks' story and Cassavetes' heavy-handed direction sends The Notebook into something mechanical and gooey, like it had been artificially sweetened
The reason to consider catching this is to watch the terrific performance by Rachel McAdams.
The Notebook explores the ways in which class separates two soul mates who are in love and compels them to dance on the razor's edge.
John Cassavetes changed the face of American film. Why does his son Nick seem so hell-bent on changing it back?
For those of even a moderately cynical bent, The Notebook is likely to induce apoplectic choking.
for someone who loves these sorts of stories, it would be a fantastic movie
Latest News for The Notebook
January 23, 2008:
Ryan Gosling Starring in Jack Ryan Franchise Reboot?
Romantics swooned over him in The Notebook, and critics loved his turn as the doll-toting lead character in last year's Lars and the Real Girl -- and if the latest rumors are... More...
January 02, 2008:
First Shots of Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams in The Time Traveler's Wife
The first stills from Robert Schwentke's adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife have surfaced online! More...
October 25, 2007:
Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning Teaming Up for My Sister's Keeper
They aren't even in high school yet, but the Fanning sisters are already grizzled Hollywood veterans -- and now they're teaming up onscreen for the first time. More...
June 28, 2007:
Ryan Gosling Signs On to Peter Jackson's "Lovely Bones"
The 27-year-old actor will be playing the husband to 36-year-old Rachel Weisz. They'll be playing the parents of a (dead) 14-year-old girl in the Peter Jackson pic. More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 86% 86% | A Christmas Tale |
| 60% 60% | Paper Heart |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- The Notebook at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Notebook at IGN
- The Notebook at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.

Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.

The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic



