The Notebook - Gosling's Redemption.

"I am no one special. Just a common man with common thoughts. And I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect, I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived. I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and for me, that has always been enough."

*spoilers ahead*

So a friend of mine lent me a film starring Ryan Gosling called "The Notebook". As you may remember I had a bit of a rant about Ryan Gosling a few months back after seeing the film "Drive" and since then all I've been getting told is I should watch this film as he is amazing in it.
To be honest I couldn't of thought of anything more unappealing than watching another film with Mr Gosling in but seeing as someone was making the effort to lend me it I thought I'd give it a go.

For the people that don't know "The Notebook" is a 2004 romance film directed by Nick Cassavetes, based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. It's about a young couple who fall in love during the early 1940s. Their story is narrated from the present day by an elderly man telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident who suffers from dementia.
To be completely honest I thought this was a pretty good film. A simple enough story which really seemed to capture the look of early 1940s America perfectly. This is only the second film I've seen Ryan Gosling in and I think he is far more suited to these soppy roles than the one he was given in Drive. He seems to be the perfect romantic lead as Noah and the chemistry between Rachel McAdams as Allie Hamilton and himself is electric. I believed that these two were really in love. Can't really fault Gosling in this film.

The real stars of this film for me though were James Garner as the older Noah and Gena Rowlands as the older Allie. I think these two made me far more likely to lose control of my tear ducts than the others.
A sad scene for me was when the older couple are having dinner and Allie remembers Noah only to forget who he is suddenly. Very sad that.
The only thing that maybe pulled me out of the movie was at the end when Aliie asks Noah whether they might die together and then the next morning they are discovered lying motionless next to one another in bed. I think it would of been better to end the film with them still having brief moments like we saw during the film.

Overall It didn't make me blub but I enjoyed this. And as I have such a wide variety of tastes when it comes to films (My DVD collection is a giant mix of genres) I'll probably buy this if see it going cheap.

No more Gosling for me though for a while.