Indoors, there is elegant if unconvincing emotional drama you can see coming from half a mile down the beach, with very little com to lighten the rom.
Nights in Rodanthe (2008)
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Reviews Counted:126
Fresh:39
Rotten:87
Average Rating:4.7/10
Consensus: Derivative and schmaltzy, Nicholas Sparks' Nights in Rodanthe is strongly mottled by contrivances that even the charisma of stars Diane Lane and Richard Gere can't repair.
Theatrical Release:10-10-2008
Synopsis: Diane Lane and Richard Gere team up for the third time (after COTTON CLUB and UNFAITHFUL) for this three-hankie romance based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. Adrienne Willis (Lane) feels her life... Diane Lane and Richard Gere team up for the third time (after COTTON CLUB and UNFAITHFUL) for this three-hankie romance based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. Adrienne Willis (Lane) feels her life falling apart around her: her unfaithful husband (Christopher Meloni, LAW & ORDER: SVU) is begging to come home, and her teenage daughter (Mae Whitman, HOPE FLOATS) can't stand to be around her. When her friend (Viola Davis, ANTWONE FISHER) asks her to watch her bed and breakfast in the picturesque town of Rodanthe, Adrienne leaps at the chance to get away. But since it's late in the season, there's only one guest: the handsome Dr. Paul Flanner (Gere), who is quiet about his reason for coming to the town. Driven together by a powerful hurricane, Adrienne and Paul find love and comfort in each other's arms. Cinematic romances between grown-ups are rare, and this finely cast drama will appeal to people who love films like THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY and other adaptations of Sparks's books, particularly MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE. Gere and Lane are both veterans (who look none the worse for wear), and they have perfected starring in relationship-driven films. But the North Carolina town of Rodanthe deserves plenty of praise as well, since it takes a starring role. Director of photography Affonso Beato (a frequent collaborator with Pedro Almodovar) shoots the beautiful beaches and the welcoming inn with such affection that it's hard not to see it as the perfect place to fall in love. [More]
Starring: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Scott Glenn, Christopher Meloni
Starring: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Scott Glenn, Christopher Meloni, Viola Davis, Mae Whitman
Director: George C Wolfe
Director: George C Wolfe
Screenwriter: Ann Peacock, John Romano
Producer: Denise Di Novi
Composer: Jeanine Tesori
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for Nights in Rodanthe
This involving movie ultimately succumbs to a severe case of the weepies, as we know it must
The word formulaic doesn’t quite cover it, but our two leads just about hold their heads above a tidal surge of sappy plotting, contrived dialogue and choppy editing.
It’s like The Bridges Of Madison County with more shouting, only not nearly as good. No surprises whatsoever, but nice scenery, attractive stars and another credible, affecting performance from Lane that hoiks it up an extra star.
Just about provides the goods as a romantic weepie but not the best Sparks adaptation.
If the story is a dreary one, it is elevated by the star brio of Gere and Lane.
As homespun as a crocheted teacosy; as folksy as an heirloom patchwork quilt and as manufactured as reproduction Shaker furniture – that’s Nights in Rodanthe.
Broadway director George C Wolfe’s inexperience with visual storytelling makes everything go with a clunk. Shame.
Richard Gere's latest is the sort of weepy that gets shown on daytime TV in between the over-50s life insurance ads.
It ticks the right boxes to be a hit - the tear jerking aspect being key to the word of mouth - but it's a movie that rarely breaks out of it's average confines.
I'd hoped the lathered-up romanticism of Nights in Rodanthe would stop me from thinking about the awfulness of what's going on in the world. It didn't; it compounded it.
Lane and Gear ensure that Nights in Rodanthe is never less than watchable, but it's scuppered by an overly sentimental script and fails to deliver the required emotional punch.
There is nothing new here – but taking the film on face value, everything that needs to be done right is spot on.
A tad clunky and sappy and yes, even hokey. But, the picture still works. I was always engaged, I was always interested in what happened next, and I was always entertained.
Despite the basic likability of the stars, that crucial chemistry is not sizzling or even hugely compelling, their situation seems slightly contrived and the movie is somehow not half as emotionally involving as it needs to be.
I can kind-of, sort-of see how this story might work as a novel. Bad dialogue doesn't sound as howlingly awful when not spoken aloud. Idiotic plot contrivances don't seem as painful and obvious.
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