The Notebook was a good film. No, it really was. It was a “chick flick” with good cinematography and plot structure and special effects and, well, as a man I know I can say this word…romance. There I said it. It was romantic.

But it was also fickle, much like the leading lady of the film.

Now for the hard stuff: It was formulaic because the same story of poor guy from a small town with nothing except great genuine relationships and one parent that extremely loves him for real meets rich girl who desires same but never says so out of fear of at least one dominating parental piranha who will kick her out of the family and mentally and physically and emotionally disown and destroy her if she does creates immense psychological and social tension because theirs is a true love that must be decided over between great physical odds that involves time or distance or racial difference and a pile of money has been done to death. But you know, you can do a formula film over and over again if it’s done well. This one was done fairly well. It was funny, and beautiful, and the sidekick supporting roles were great, and the people were interesting, and it was told in a novel way via retrospect from the end of their lives and contained a slight bit of mystery for awhile which we eventually figure out. It was very good acting. James Garner was his usual cool self, and his own age and physique was perfect for the failing old man, I kind of hate to say.

As for other acting moments I cannot agree it was all there. There were too many “set up” moments like when she returns in a car to see him again and the car doesn’t start and they spend the day getting reacquainted. It was just too surreal and I didn’t believe it. I WANTED to because somehow the unfinished sexual moment from earlier in their youth there in the old mansion never did quite get worked out and I would think it safe to say that we were all still emotionally and somewhat glandularly on edge waiting for a release. See, those subterranean threads of sexuality and emotional pressure really do pay off for a filmmaker who needs to string us along through the story and get us to “wait” expectantly through a whole war and a house-building-from-scratch and a false romance by a big-wig and a not-quite-as-attractive-war-widow and, well, EVERYTHING, just to get there and see them EXPLPODE in a sex scene that lasts for many many time-compressed cinema hours, and then we feel spent just like they do. Woo, that was fun I suppose. Ok, this is a review, and I hope I’m not spoiling it for you. Of course I’m not. Seeing is believing. However, I did notice that this was PG13, and I did see a young miss of about that age in the audience, and after seeing its complexity and strong content I would not take my daughter to see it. Come on people, this is an adult movie.

Ok, I’ll go off on the ratings here for just a moment. Ratings are really a poor and narrow way to judge films. Our rating system needs to be overhauled somehow. But R would have been more appropriate for this film. This is one of those cases where the only thing a PG13 means is that certain body parts are not displayed graphically, so it’s “ok”. But what are not taken account of in a story of this type are the certain parts of the “soul” that are overexposed. A thirteen year old is not going to relate to or understand the complexity and difficulty of choosing between two lives and loves, or of the need for a temporary relationship with a woman, for instance, as a means of tempering a deeper inner need, and then it becomes a “disposable” relationship because all along the war widow is proven to be a “placeholder”. I think all of us who’ve had loves and lost them have had that feeling at one time or another, wondering if the current love we have is really only there because of something we “lost” way back when, and then we wonder “what if”. I truly felt sorry for the rich guy in the end. It really wasn’t fair after all. He was not a bad guy. But a thirteen year old may misconstrue many of the deep and heavy relationships in a story like this and walk away slightly, if not drastically, disillusioned, disaffected, disappointed, or simply demoralized and jaded by the idea that maybe nothing is very certain and there is no one that can be depended on in this world. Ok, in the end true love triumphs, yes, but too much reality too early in life in a strong visual context like this in my opinion is too much for a young teen. Something simpler like “just getting to know people and be honest with them” is a great theme for the teen mind, or dependence on someone in a giving relationship, or heroism. The theme of substance verses flash can be covered in a million different ways other than this for teens. And does sleeping together prior to the true commitment of marriage ALWAYS need to stand out as an act of testing the waters? I thought maybe the true love they had was deeper than that. In fact I’m sure it was, because of the way they died.

I have to admit, the last scene was awesome and a great way to end their story together, and made up for some other more bland and not too serious movie mistakes. Altogether, it was a good film that married couples and those contemplating marriage should see. A nice “date” film, it was a good story. And I am not a chick!