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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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    101 - 120 (sorted by date)
    Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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    who knew the skinhead of The Believer would have such romantic chemistry with the lead Mean Girl?

    Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Laura Clifford
    Laura Clifford
    Reeling Reviews

    Sweet and sentimental with a feel for the period in which the romance takes place.

    Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Harvey S. Karten
    Harvey S. Karten
    Compuserve

    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

    If you found The Bridges of Madison County too demanding, if you like your romance with an extra helping of syrup, then your movie has arrived.

    Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Chris Vognar
    Chris Vognar
    Dallas Morning News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Sentimental hogwash, but it's hogwash with an insidious power.

    Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Connie Ogle
    Connie Ogle
    Miami Herald

    If there is a more cringe-inducing, badly made and excruciating movie released this year, it would have to not only star the Olsen twins, but be written and directed by them as well.

    Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment 2 Comments
    06/24/04
    Terry Lawson
    Terry Lawson
    Detroit Free Press
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Garner is especially moving in his tender devotion to this hopeless case, and McAdams gives the kind of vivid, unfettered performance that marks the ascendance of a star.

    Full Review Source: Charlotte Observer | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Lawrence Toppman
    Lawrence Toppman
    Charlotte Observer

    Garner has a supporting role in The Notebook, but he's such a pleasure to watch that he elevates the quality of the entire film.

    Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
    Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
    St. Paul Pioneer Press

    It's a familiar theme, the young, hormone-crazed, star-crossed lovers, and it wouldn't be nearly so entertaining were it not for the considerable appeal of Gosling and McAdams, who forge a palpable chemistry.

    Full Review Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Phoebe Flowers
    Phoebe Flowers
    South Florida Sun-Sentinel

    If its performers do not always triumph over their material, it's a struggle that they make worth watching.

    Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Bruce Newman
    Bruce Newman
    San Jose Mercury News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    If it were a sandwich, it would be two slices of bread without filling. If it were a bridge, it would be two anchorages without a suspension in between. Nice anchorages, though.

    Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Carrie Rickey
    Carrie Rickey
    Philadelphia Inquirer
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    A very soggy movie.

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

    It will have many viewers bucketing tears until they are as dehydrated as Egyptian mummies.

    Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Colin Covert
    Colin Covert
    Minneapolis Star Tribune

    Cassavetes's directing style is slow and stilted ... indicating yet again that his notion of moviemaking is the opposite of everything his father, the great John Cassavetes, stood for.

    Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    David Sterritt
    David Sterritt
    Christian Science Monitor

    This film vaults past our defenses. We can see the characters falling and staying in love, feel the reasons.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Michael Wilmington
    Michael Wilmington
    Chicago Tribune
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Succeeds well enough on its own terms.

    Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
    Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
    Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Cassavettes wants this to be a love letter to Rowlands, his mother. She is luminous, and we believe she could inspire great love. Too bad it's not in a great movie.

    Full Review Source: Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Nell Minow
    Nell Minow
    Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

    McAdams is a breath of fresh air in a movie full of hot air

    Full Review Source: jackiekcooper.com | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Jackie K. Cooper
    Jackie K. Cooper
    jackiekcooper.com

    I'd be hard-pressed to imagine why anyone not in need of a fix of 1950s Ross Hunter soap opera would want to see this handsome, but deadly film.

    Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
    06/24/04
    Ken Hanke
    Ken Hanke
    Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
     
     
    101 - 120 (sorted by date)
    Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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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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