Monday, October 06, 2008

Nights in Disappointing Movies

This weekend we went to see Nights in Rodanthe, which as my friend described it, was a bit crummy. Don't get me wrong, Diane Lane and Richard Gere were great, but the storyline veered from romantic and hopeful to melancholy and dreery.

I'm not opposed to heart-rending romances, but there has to be some sense of reality to justify the gloomy tone. The Notebook, for example, was fantastic even though the ending made me weep. (No laughing!) Titanic and Romeo & Juliet are also obvious choices. My favorite is Love, Actually. Husband and I rewatched it last night and it's not all sappy, happy love, though there is some of that. Andrew Lincoln's character falls in love with his best friend's wife. Alan Rickman's character strays from his wife, Emma Thompson, and jeopardizes their history and their marriage. My own novel is sad, but it's a story set amidst the chaos of the Holocaust, so any rampant gaiety would be artificial.

*Spoiler Alert*

Basically, I didn't see why Richard Gere's character died. It did nothing to advance the story or the plot. And even more importantly, it seemed far-fetched that there would be two natural disasters in one movie. A hurricane in North Carolina, I buy, but the same man getting stuck in a mudslide in South America months later? Nope, doesn't work for me. Finally, wild horses are NOT a suitable replacement for Richard Gere. Was that supposed to be the redemption for Diane Lane? She tells him she'll never see the horses in Rodanthe, but as he promised, she does. Pah! At the very least she could've met a substitute Gere, say Pierce Brosnan or Harrison Ford.

7 comments:

Jenny Beattie said...

Sorry you didn't enjoy it.

I'm so out of the cultural loop here, I've never heard of the movie! It doesn't sound like much of a loss, but it worries me at what else I'm missing out on.

The Duchess! No plans to release in Thailand so far. *Sigh*

Angie said...

JJ, don't feel too out of the loop, it's brand new. It's based on another Nicholas Sparks novel. The movie was good aside from the ending. (I clearly didn't read the novel first. ;)

Oh yes, The Duchess is on my list! I can't wait to see that. Bummer it's not releasing in Thailand yet. :(

Lane Mathias said...

I'm a bit like JJ and haven't seen anything recently. Still catching up on the old ones. Working my way through a box set of Audrey Hepburn's at the moment:-) One day I'll watch something modern!

Anonymous said...

Sorry you didn't like it, I haven't heard great things about it.

The Duchess is excellent I saw it in the UK and the next thing on my list is Nick and Norah, which looks fab form the trailer.

Angie said...

Lane, a box of Audrey Hepburn sounds fantastic! I really want to do that sometime.

m&t, I should have read reviews, but then again, sometimes I love things that reviewers trash...I did love Diane Lane and Richard Gere in it.

Yay, I'm glad to hear The Duchess is good. I'll have to check out a Nick and Nora trailer. It sounds familiar, but I can't recall the details.

Zmunda said...

First, why in Goodness would you see that movie?! It looked horrible from the start and the theme song makes me want to kick somebody.

Second, my Mom made my Dad take her to see it thinking she was going to get this great romantic date and then she cried. She hated it so much and now my Dad is refusing to ever take her to see a "chic" flick again.

Angie said...

Z, well, friends were going, and I thought 'I love The Notebook, and Diane Lane and Richard Gere are great'. Not so much.

Haha, your poor dad. I bet he loved the wild horses at the end. LOL. Tell him rom-coms are a safer bet, because at least there's something to laugh at along the way.