Dear John
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A romance from the author of The Notebook and the director of Chocolat, starring Channing Tatum (Step Up) as John and Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!) as Savannah. They are a couple in love, torn apart by John's duty to the US Army.
John is a young soldier home on leave and Savannah is an idealistic college student who he falls for during her spring vacation (he dives into the sea to retrieve her purse). Over the next seven tumultuous years, the couple is separated by John's increasingly dangerous deployments – culminating in America’s call-to-arms after 9/11. Whilst meeting only sporadically, they stay in touch by sending a continuous stream of love letters – correspondence that eventually triggers fateful consequences.
Starring
Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins, Henry Thomas, D.J. Cotrona, Cullen Moss
Directed by
Lasse Hallström ('My Life as a Dog', 'The Cider House Rules', 'Chocolat')
Written by
Jamie Linden, Nicholas Sparks
(M) Contains Violence & Sex Scenes | Adaptation, Drama, Romance, War | USA | Official Website
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PRESS REVIEWS
Average rating 
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Dear John exists only to coddle the sentiments of undemanding dreamers, and plunge us into a world where the only evil is the interruption of the good.
Click to read full review.Hollywood Reporter
The film, while heartfelt and directed by multiple-Oscar nominee Lasse Hallstrom, is dramatically stillborn.
Click to read full review.New York Times
Dear John carefully distills selected elements of human experience and reduces them to a sweet and digestible syrup. It may not be strong medicine, but it delivers an effective, pleasing dose of pure sentiment and vicarious heartache.
Click to read full review.NZherald.co.nz (Francesca Rudkin)
Fans of The Notebook will forgive this film its flaws
Click to read full review.TV3 (Kate Rodger)
Dear John, oh how I hate to write. But write I must, and here I go.
Click to read full review.tvnz.co.nz (Darren Bevan)
After the Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe and the Last Song, another Nicholas Sparks book makes its way to the big screen.
Click to read full review.Variety (USA)
Ultimately, the story feels as if it's killing time before throwing the next hurdle at the couple.
Click to read full review.ViewAuckland.co.nz (Matt Turner)
Disappointing, badly written and ultimately empty drama that fails to engage on an emotional level and only escapes one star ignominy because of the chemistry and likeability of its two leads.
Click to read full review.Flicks.co.nz "Dear John" Movie Review
Flicks.co.nz rating
James Croot, Flicks.co.nz
While there's no questioning writer Nicholas Sparks' ability to boost Kleenex sales, cinematic adaptations of his work have been somewhat of a mixed bag. Whilst Message in a Bottle showcased Kevin Costner at his best, A Walk to Remember was a film to forget (save Mandy Moore) and Nights in Rodanthe seemed like an eternity in purgatory. Now just weeks after a tuneless Miley Cyrus gave us her last song, we have this love letter to the US Army and paean to the lost art of letter writing.
Of course, there are some things you can always count on in a Sparks adaptation – sandy locations, star-crossed lovers and searing melodrama, all tied in a neat emotionally manipulative bow.
The script does a nice job of switching genders – despite what the trailer suggests, this is very much big-lug-of-the-week Tatum's (Step Up) film. He's the one with the anger issues, autistic father (an excellent Jenkins) and who boasts a mistress in the form of the military (amusing given his name, John Tyree, sounds almost exactly like a certain philandering English footballer).
Unfortunately that also means that the Winslet-lite Seyfried (Mamma Mia!) is left with an underwritten, too-perfect character that, like her Greek Abba-infused holiday, gives her little to do.
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