With Every Great Love Comes A Great Story: The Notebook (2004)

The Notebook tells the story about two youngsters who fall in love and have to endure in life later. Though “boy loves girl” is typical of the romantic genre, not all movies make as good an impression as this one. It is adopted from a novel of the same title written by Nicholas Sparks. The movie is set in the 1940s and brings out an idyllic romance between two youngsters and how it blossoms into a great love affair.

The movie starts with Duke (James Garner) reading a book to an old lady(Gena Rowlands) in an elderly home, and there starts the great love story of Ally, played by Rachel McAdams, and Noah (Ryan Gosling).Noah is a crazy romantic and he dramatically asks Ally out on a date, hanging on top of a Ferris Wheel. Crazy as it sounds; the movie doesn’t focus too much on melodrama in its later stages and sticks to a good storyline and keeps it sweet and simple. Noah and Ally fall crazily in love and the near perfect love story continues for some time before brakes are put on it. Ally’s parents do not approve of a relationship with a boy from the other side of the tracks, and Noah shackled by a laborious and a desolate lumber job can’t prove otherwise. Thus, parting of ways take place and Ally’s parents take her away at the first chance they get and this closes the door of perfectly spanned love story, or at least for now. The fact that this story itself is narrated, by Duke, makes the movie interesting and keeps the viewer guessing at this point on where these two stories are headed to. Noah gets recruited in the army for the world war and Allie meets a young and handsome lawyer who proposes to her. It is at this time Allie finds out that her lost love, Noah is back from the war is and suspense is mooted with a likely chance for both. Apart from a honey toned romanticism a great piece of storytelling keeps the viewers engrossed in the little suspense of Allie’s choice. The movie takes its sweet time in getting there as well, a time well utilized for showing the re-kindling of romance between the two characters. The emotions and pains that these characters undergo are excellently shown.

The movie is characterized by a great storytelling which keeps the viewers engrossed through an expected storyline. Though this movie sticks to the eternal healing power of love for its central theme, it doesn’t lose its direction in the middle portraying rather intricate romantic sequences. The way the two subplots merge is shown excellently and the end may be a tear jerker and heavy for some. Gena Rowlands performs excellently in the role of the old lady suffering from Alzheimer’s supported well by the role of James Garner who can for all, do nothing, but hope for the best, and how he supports her through this shows the making of a great romance. Also Joan Allen fits well in a role as an "ice queen" playing Allie's mother. Both Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling are in fine niches for their roles which play a pivotal part in the movie. Though it has a stereotyped storyline the movie plays it well, the movie is a great piece of storytelling and has a clear sense of direction to where it is going and this is where it beats most chick flicks. For a simple love story the movie is near perfect and worth a watch.