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Movies / On DVD / The Notebook
The Notebook

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The Notebook (2004)

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Reviews Counted:146

Fresh:76

Rotten:70

Average Rating:5.6/10

Consensus: Despite some touching performances, The Notebook is still a syrupy tearjerker.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for some sexuality

Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:25-06-2004

Synopsis: A young woman comes to the coastal town of Seabrook, North Carolina in the 1940's to spend the summer with her family. Still in her teens, Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) meets local boy Noah... A young woman comes to the coastal town of Seabrook, North Carolina in the 1940's to spend the summer with her family. Still in her teens, Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) meets local boy Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) at a Carnival. On the spot, Noah senses that he and Allie are meant to be together. Though she is a wealthy debutante and he a mill worker, over the course of one passionate and carefree summer in the South, the two fall deeply in love. Circumstances - and the sudden outbreak of World War II - drive them apart, but both continue to be haunted by memories of each other. When Noah returns home from the war years later, Allie is irrevocably gone from his life, but not from his heart. Though Noah doesn't yet know it, Allie has come back to Seabrook, where they first fell in love. But now Allie is engaged to marry Lon (James Marsden), a wealthy soldier she met while volunteering in a GI hospital. Decades later, a man (James Garner) reads from a faded notebook to a woman (Gena Rowlands) he regularly visits at her nursing home. Though her memory has faded, she becomes caught up in the fiery story of Allie and Noah - and for a few moments, she is able to relive the passionate, turbulent time when they swore they'd be together always. New Line Cinema presents The Notebook, a story of lost chances, growing up and the power of enduring love. A Gran Via Production, the film is directed by Nick Cassavetes from a screenplay by Jeremy Leven, adaptation by Jan Sardi, based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks. Academy Award winner Mark Johnson (Rain Man) and Lynn Harris are the producers. The executive producers are Toby Emmerich and Avram Butch Kaplan. The film stars Ryan Gosling (The Believer), Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls), Academy Award nominees James Garner (Murphy's Romance, TV's "Eight Simple Rules") and Gena Rowlands (Gloria, A Woman Under the Influence), James Marsden (X-Men series) and Kevin Connolly (John Q.), with Academy Award nominees Sam Shepard (The Right Stuff, Black Hawk Down) and Joan Allen (The Contender, Nixon). The creative behind-the-scenes team is led by director of photography Robert Fraisse AFC (Enemy at the Gates, Vatel), editor Alan Heim A.C.E. (American History X, All That Jazz), production designer Sarah Knowles and costume designer Karyn Wagner (The Lone Ranger, The Salton Sea, The Majestic). Aaron Zigman (John Q., Fighting For Care) composed the score. Casting is by Matthew Barry, C.S.A. and Nancy Green-Keyes, C.S.A. New Line Cinema will release The Notebook (rated PG-13 by the M.P.A.A. for "some sexuality") nationwide on June 25th, 2004. [More]

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands, Sam Shepard, Joan Allen, James Marsden

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Director: Nick Cassavetes
Screenwriter: Jeremy Leven, Jan Sardi
Producer: Mark Johnson, Lynn Harris
Composer: Aaron Zigman
Studio: New Line Cinema

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Reviews for The Notebook

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Old-fashioned matinee pictures don't come much more sickly.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
06/22/04
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

While the sentimentality is pretty oppressive, Cassavetes leaves enough space for the cast members to shine.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
06/05/04
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

An uncomplicated, nicely shot tale that ticks all the right boxes for those after a good old-fashioned weepy.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
07/03/04
Anna Smith
Anna Smith
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
07/03/04
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
N/R

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Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
07/03/04
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

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Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
07/21/05
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

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Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
07/03/04
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

Screenwriter Jeremy Leven doesn't write a genuine love story as much as he types out his idealized -- and misguided -- version of what a genuine love story should be.

Full Review Source: Juicy Cerebellum | comment Comment
06/24/04
Alex Sandell
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum

Cassavetes' film is unusually well-acted and lovely to look at, but his wholehearted embrace of saccharine melodrama and tendency to let scenes ramble on long after their point has been expressed makes for some slow going.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
06/25/04
Angel Cohn
Angel Cohn
TV Guide's Movie Guide

If trailers to Cassavetes' unashamed tearjerker seem interminable, try sitting through the contrived sentimental sap of the two-hour-plus film.

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
07/19/04
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca

This is a movie that isn't ashamed to wring each teardrop by any means necessary.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
06/25/04
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post

It's a good thing 'The Notebook' has an appealing narrator to soften some of its jarring elements.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
06/15/04
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Men hardly need to be warned that this is basically just Titanic without anything cool like a ship sinking or Kate Winslet posing for art.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
06/25/04
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

A maudlin sap-fest that overwhelms the fine cast and reduces many of their scenes to sheer manipulation, not illuminating drama.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
06/25/04
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies

If it were a sandwich, it would be two slices of bread without filling. If it were a bridge, it would be two anchorages without a suspension in between. Nice anchorages, though.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
06/24/04
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer

The movie not only approaches a level of shamelessness you have to see to disbelieve, it does it in a manner that's both inept and crass.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
07/03/04
Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Salon.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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Latest News for The Notebook

January 23, 2008: Ryan Gosling Starring in Jack Ryan Franchise Reboot?
Romantics swooned over him in The Notebook, and critics loved his turn as the doll-toting lead character in last year's Lars and the Real Girl -- and if the latest rumors are... More...

January 02, 2008: First Shots of Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams in The Time Traveler's Wife
The first stills from Robert Schwentke's adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife have surfaced online! More...

October 25, 2007: Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning Teaming Up for My Sister's Keeper
They aren't even in high school yet, but the Fanning sisters are already grizzled Hollywood veterans -- and now they're teaming up onscreen for the first time. More...

June 28, 2007: Ryan Gosling Signs On to Peter Jackson's "Lovely Bones"
The 27-year-old actor will be playing the husband to 36-year-old Rachel Weisz. They'll be playing the parents of a (dead) 14-year-old girl in the Peter Jackson pic. More...

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