There is nothing less inspiring than a love story performed badly. Nights in Rodanthe delivers one of the worst performances of recent memory.
Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane) is a mother of two, recently separated from her husband. One weekend, while her children are visiting their father, she offers to oversee a friend’s inn in scenic Rodanthe, N.C. There, she meets Dr. Paul Flanner (Richard Gere), a physician, who is in town to resolve unfinished business.
At first, Dr. Flanner seems distant. As the weekend evolves, he and Adrienne begin to connect as they share their similar pasts, involving marital strife and their children. Flanner discloses his strained relations with his son, and the accident that brought about the end of his medical career.
Predictably, Paul and Adrienne fall quickly in love, despite barely knowing each other. As they become closer Adrienne encourages Paul to amend the strained relations between himself and his son, resulting in Paul’s decision to visit his son who is working as a doctor in South America. In other movies, spontaneous romances are plausible, but especially with Paul’s sheltered disposition, the romance between these two does not come across as realistic.
This was one of those movies you wanted to like. The previews foretold heartwarming romance, and the actors were promising. However, the movie was impossible to connect with. The scenes were choppy, and the story had no build-up.
One minute they barely know each other, the next they are madly in love. Not to mention, their entire love affair supposedly occurred within a four day period.
It’s hard to believe Nights in Rodanthe was written by Nicholas Sparks, the same man who wrote The Notebook, which was both a great movie and book. Viewers expected another great love story, or at least a heartfelt movie. They were sorely disappointed.
The actors picked for the roles seemed well chosen. Both Lane and Gere have been in substantial, successful films in the past. In Nights in Rodanthe, neither of them was necessarily bad playing their role, but since neither part was well written or developed, it made no difference.
One of the best characters was Jean (Viola Davis), Adrienne’s inn-owning friend. Though only briefly in the film, her character was personable and added humor, as well as a more down-to-earth perspective on life.
Also disappointing, was the lack of good scene conclusions. One scene abruptly ended when Adrienne unexpectedly stated, “I have to go to bed.” Scene endings such as this made the movie awkward and lessened the build-up to their romance.
Furthermore, certain scenes lacked the drama they could have added to the film. For instance, a violent hurricane was supposedly heading towards Rodanthe. Yet, with all the build-up, the hurricane lasted no more than two minutes and only culminated in a brief semi-romantic moment between the leads.
If you’ve seen the previews, you need not look any further. The previews capture the extent of the romance in the film. When the credits rolled, I was left completely unexcited. A movie with such a terrible plot simply cannot force the viewer to care.
This love story had the potential to be the best of the year, but it failed to reach my expectations. Many viewers assumed Nights in Rodanthe would be up to par with such films as The Notebook. I guarantee those same viewers are now banging their heads on the wall, asking themselves how hard it is to create a respectable love story.
I now realize that I misinterpreted the movie’s tagline, “it’s never too late for a second chance.” More appropriately, it should read, “it’s never too late for a second chance…to leave the theater.”
Diane Lane and Richard Gere. Photo courtesy of http://blogs.nypost.com/movies
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