In a modern-day nursing home, an elderly man named Duke (James Garner) begins to read a love story from his notebook to a female fellow patient (Gena Rowlands).

“The Notebook”

Paul –

8.5 out of 10

When you talk movies it’s a common fact that you are mostly talking to men.
We men love horror, action and every now and again some male sports drama if we are feeling emotional.
So recommending the next movie to you is going to be very hard: The Notebook.

This movie kept creeping up on me through various female endorsements and I was reluctant to see it.
When I finally did I was surprised, first of all by my own narrowmindedness regarding this movie, and
on top of that I found it to be an excellent story as well.
‘The Notebook’ is probably one of the titles that is most often mentioned by the females surrounding you.
It’s story lends itself for a girls night, with a handsome Ryan Gosling who plays the local working class guy and
Rachel McAdams who is of rich descent. Needless to say: they are bound to fall in love, much to the despise of her rich parents.

Now, before going on about the movie, it’s time to shift the perspective to another subject.
How do YOU view a movie?
I consider a movie to be a piece of art, whether you like that art is down to your own mind.
Are you willing to try your hand at a musical, a drama or a ‘girly flick’, or are you prejudiced about it?
Art has the power to show you things you didn’t see or even feel before, and it can give you experiences you haven’t had in the past.
Some people are happy to stay in their own safe little corner where nothing changes, but why not mix it up?

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Will you love ‘The Notebook’ ? It’s safe to assume that most of you will exclaim beforehand that you won’t.
Yet you haven’t seen the movie or you are facing a serious backlash from your batch of male friends.
The movie is based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks, which has been adapted to a screenplay and subsequently filmed by Mr. Nick Cassavetes.
What makes this movie worthwhile is the fact that it isn’t afraid to stand for what it is.
Much like ‘The Raid’ defined an action movie, this defines a romantic one.
But there is nothing wrong with that, as long as you form an opinion based on those merrits.

Ryan Gosling has gained some male credit since his turn as ‘Driver’ in the movie ‘Drive’.
And he shows what acting wood he’s made of in this flick. Rachel McAdams is beautiful and she plays the best part she’s had to date.
Their romance is glorified at parts, yet still grounded in reality, they fight, they forget about eachother but they never got over eachother.
And in the end that leads to them finding eachother again in different points in their lives.
The story is told from the perspective of Noah (Mr. Gosling) as he’s old and retired, telling the story to one of his friends in the elderly home.
And that’s where you come in as a viewer.
Don’t fool yourself by thinking this just isn’t your cup of tea.
We’ve all been in love and we all know that one special lady in our lives.

Let ‘The Notebook’ be your one exception this year in your long list of things you wouldn’t dare to do.
Take a chance and be brave enough to strike back with a comment below!