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The Notebook

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The Notebook (2004)

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Reviews Counted:35

Fresh:17

Rotten:18

Average Rating:5.5/10

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

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  • 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 date)
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    Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
    07/21/05
    Houston Chronicle
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    How rare to see a film that says there is still a value system out there, that being thoughtful and caring is not uncool.

    Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
    07/23/04
    Rex Reed
    Rex Reed
    New York Observer
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    The movie not only approaches a level of shamelessness you have to see to disbelieve, it does it in a manner that's both inept and crass.

    Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
    07/03/04
    Charles Taylor
    Charles Taylor
    Salon.com
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    May be one hundred percent sap, but its spirit is anything but cloying, thanks to persuasive performances, most notably from Rachel McAdams.

    Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Desson Thomson
    Desson Thomson
    Washington Post
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    This is a movie that isn't ashamed to wring each teardrop by any means necessary.

    Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Ann Hornaday
    Ann Hornaday
    Washington Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Our resistance is broken down, and the hankies are out.

    Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Susan Walker
    Susan Walker
    Toronto Star
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    An old-fashioned and occasionally schmaltzy movie that delivers an emotional wallop sure to elicit tears from all but those with truly intractable hearts.

    Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment 1 Comment
    06/25/04
    Ruthe Stein
    Ruthe Stein
    San Francisco Chronicle
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    Much like an awkward but well-intentioned suitor, the movie inspires affection despite its overwrought script and occasionally clunky staging.

    Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Lisa Rose
    Lisa Rose
    Newark Star-Ledger
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Well worth the risk of diabetic shock for the sake of superb acting that transcends its teary milieu.

    Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Lou Lumenick
    Lou Lumenick
    New York Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Two hours of the worst sort of sentimental sap.

    Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Jack Mathews
    Jack Mathews
    New York Daily News
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    Meant to be a romantic weepy, and you will shed tears -- but only from the consistent and exhausting effort of trying to control your gag reflex.

    Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Rick Groen
    Rick Groen
    Globe and Mail
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    A small, smart film filled with heart.

    Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Tom Long
    Tom Long
    Detroit News
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    Cue the sensitive piano. Make the settings picturesque. Add a corny narration, and let the love boat sail.

    Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment 1 Comment
    06/25/04
    Robert Denerstein
    Robert Denerstein
    Denver Rocky Mountain News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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

    Now here is a story that could have been a tearjerker, but -- no, wait, it is a tearjerker, it's just that it's a good one.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Roger Ebert
    Roger Ebert
    Chicago Sun-Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Considering the sunny, relatively pleasurable romantic business that precedes it, the elderly stuff seems dark, morbid, and forced upon us.

    Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Wesley Morris
    Wesley Morris
    Boston Globe
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    A gifted cast was bogged down by a treacly tale.

    Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Claudia Puig
    Claudia Puig
    USA Today
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    Cassavetes isn't much of a director and he never settles on a mood, which he seems intent on ruining with hiccups of goofiness. But there's an underlying humanity to his scenes, a sense that movies are made by people for other people.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Manohla Dargis
    Manohla Dargis
    Los Angeles Times
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    You can't write off The Notebook as just another tearjerker because the characters are brought to life in such elegant fashion.

    Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Bill Muller
    Bill Muller
    Arizona Republic
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Against your better judgment, you root for the pair to beat the odds against them.

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Stephen Holden
    Stephen Holden
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
     
     
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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...

    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...

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