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The Notebook

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The Notebook (2004)

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Reviews Counted:146

Fresh:76

Rotten:70

Average Rating:5.6/10

Consensus: Despite some touching performances, The Notebook is still a syrupy tearjerker.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for some sexuality

Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins

Genre: Dramas

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

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Release:

Feb 8, 2005

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Behind every great love is a great story. Two teenagers from opposite sides of the tracks fall in love during one summer together, but are tragically forced apart. When they reunite 7 years later, their passionate romance is rekindled, forcing one of them to choose between true love and class order.
  • Source: Warner Home Video
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    Reviews for The Notebook

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    1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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    A very soggy movie.

    Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    John Anderson
    John Anderson
    Newsday
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Whether someone can enjoy The Notebook or not depends much of the mood in which the viewers find themselves.

    Full Review Source: Draxblog Movie Reviews | comment 1 Comment
    03/18/05
    Dragan Antulov
    Dragan Antulov
    Draxblog Movie Reviews

    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.

    Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    William Arnold
    William Arnold
    Seattle Post-Intelligencer

    Manages to touch a chord, even if it’s a minor one.

    Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
    06/23/04
    Jeanne Aufmuth
    Jeanne Aufmuth
    Palo Alto Weekly

    If trailers to Cassavetes' unashamed tearjerker seem interminable, try sitting through the contrived sentimental sap of the two-hour-plus film.

    Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
    07/19/04
    Angela Baldassarre
    Angela Baldassarre
    Sympatico.ca

    The movie may be highly disposable, but the individual scenes of Gosling and McAdams just acting and just connecting are wonderful to watch.

    Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Joe Baltake
    Joe Baltake
    Sacramento Bee

    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.

    Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
    06/22/04
    James Berardinelli
    James Berardinelli
    ReelViews
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    A shining example of how great acting can overcome even the worst script.

    Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
    06/23/04
    Rob Blackwelder
    Rob Blackwelder
    SPLICEDWire

    The Notebook is one of the most romantic movies of our generation! Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling are positively electric...READ ON->

    Full Review Source: Blunt Review | comment Comment
    06/23/04
    Emily Blunt
    Emily Blunt
    Blunt Review

    One of the shallowest movies in recent memory.

    Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Michael Booth
    Michael Booth
    Denver Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
    06/23/04
    Kit Bowen
    Kit Bowen
    Hollywood.com

    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.

    Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Jay Boyar
    Jay Boyar
    Orlando Sentinel

    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.

    Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
    06/29/04
    Jules Brenner
    Jules Brenner
    Cinema Signals

    Sparks' story and Cassavetes' heavy-handed direction sends The Notebook into something mechanical and gooey, like it had been artificially sweetened

    Full Review Source: Des Moines Register | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Jeffrey Bruner
    Jeffrey Bruner
    Des Moines Register

    The reason to consider catching this is to watch the terrific performance by Rachel McAdams.

    Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Matt Brunson
    Matt Brunson
    Creative Loafing

    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.

    Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
    Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
    Spirituality and Practice

    John Cassavetes changed the face of American film. Why does his son Nick seem so hell-bent on changing it back?

    Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
    06/22/04
    Sean Burns
    Sean Burns
    Philadelphia Weekly

    For those of even a moderately cynical bent, The Notebook is likely to induce apoplectic choking.

    Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Robert W. Butler
    Robert W. Butler
    Kansas City Star

    A mawkish romance; one of the year's 10 worst

    Full Review Source: Catholic Sun | comment 6 Comments
    01/05/05
    Fr. Chris Carpenter
    Fr. Chris Carpenter
    Catholic Sun

    for someone who loves these sorts of stories, it would be a fantastic movie

    Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
    03/05/09
    Kevin Carr
    Kevin Carr
    7M Pictures
     
     
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    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...

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    June 28, 2007: Ryan Gosling Signs On to Peter Jackson's "Lovely Bones"
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