Written to Be

Channing Tatum does a lot of crying in Dear John, the latest adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel.

Like, a lot of crying – this is his moment to show us there’s more to him than brawn (as seen in Fighting, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), and that his celebrated turns in indies like A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints were no fluke.

Tatum stars in the Lasse Hallström-tearjerker as a soldier home on leave who falls in love – in two great sun-kissed weeks! – with a college student played by Amanda Seyfried (HBO’s Big Love, Mamma Mia!).

It’s kismet that his John and her Savannah find each other and give themselves to each other the way they do – it’s meant to be.

He’s a reformed bad boy – the Army has reshaped him, taught him discipline – and she’s a delightful, insightful young woman who shows an interest in his life, asking to meet his reclusive father (Richard Jenkins) after only their first date.

Before you can say John’s bad news, though, his leave is up, and he must go. Oh, and did I mention that their meet cute takes place early in the summer of 2001?

Well, it did. For a while, the two lovebirds keep their budding relationship going, writing lovely letters to each other. He tells her as much as he possibly can about his missions, and she keeps him updated on how her summer’s going and how his father’s doing (Savannah’s also trying to help John realize that there’s a perfectly good reason for his father’s so seemingly detached).

Everything’s going well between the two – he has a year left in the Army, and then they will be together once his service is over.

But then it happens: Sept. 11, 2001, an event that changed the world, and refocus what the young couple has.

It’s something that eventually tears them asunder – instead of returning home back to her, John reenlists after the attacks, a decision that combined with insurmountable distance and the passing of time proves much too much.

Then again then, though, Dear John had us believing that love after two weeks is quite the real possibility, so maybe they can make it, after all.

The problem is the movie keeps John and Savannah apart for so long, it’s hard to come around considering a happy ending.

Perhaps they – gasp! – can’t make it?

That’s the option Dear John asks us to the point of boredom to consider, and that thanks to an ending that feels rushed (and that I heard differs from the book), I wished had come to be.

It’s an uneven movie, this one, but it’s redeemed by the magnetic quality that both Tatum and Seyfried posses. Seeing two of Hollywood’s fastest-rising stars together on screen is a treat. I just wish the movie had been one, too.

In other words, this is no Notebook. It’s not even A Walk to Remember. It’s a better-looking, weak-minded Bridges of Madison County. But will it bring back letter-writing back? That’s the one question I often caught myself asking, which is not, I bet, what the powers that be wanted.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: Sony Pictures.