Monday Movie Review: The Notebook

The iconic kiss in the rain! *Swoon*

This week, we watched The Notebook. The movie adaption of the same name as the book by Nicholas Sparks. As you can probably tell, we like to stick to some sort of theme from week to week, it isn't always on purpose. This started because of the line "What Do You Want?" thus bringing us to a major scene for Ryan Gosling as the younger Noah.  And as Allie replies, "It's not that simple." Everything comes back to The Notebook this week. I honestly wasn't planning on writing this review since we did just do A Walk To Remember last week, but here I am because all throughout this week, we came across lines from The Notebook, the actors in other shows, such as James Garner in the rerun of The Rockford Files that our dad was watching. So, I thought, why not just write this review?

The Notebook is a love story crossing at least fifty years. It starts with a friendly older gentleman named Duke coming to read a story to, at that point, an unknown woman at the same nursing home. The story he read is about a young couple falling in love and having a short summer romance during their late teens in the late 1930s. The girl is from a rich, respectable family, and the boy is from a poor Southern family who has a job at the logging company. Allie and Noah. Noah saw Allie first and went to ask her out even while she was on a date with another guy at the time. She took a little convincing before agreeing, but after going to see a movie together on a double date with their friends, Noah and Ally become inseparable. Spending all their time together. She shares her passion for painting, which she doesn't get to do very often as her parents control her schedule down to the minute. In fact, the movie she saw with Noah was the first one she saw in a long time. Noah takes her to the house that he dreams of buying and one day rebuilding. They imagine their lives together in that home, Allie requesting a few touches just for her. 

However, too soon after, the Summer is over for Allie. Her parents packed up their house where they were just staying for the Summer, and went home. Separating Allie and Noah right after a fight the night before not knowing if they will ever see each other again. In between, some of the scenes from the Notebook that Duke is reading from, we are introduced a little more to Duke and the woman that he's reading to and a Nurse at the Home refers to her as Allie. At this point, it's not clear if Allie and Noah ever saw each other again. Noah spends a year writing her a letter a day that goes unanswered due to Allie’s mother's interference before joining the Army. Allie heads to college and volunteers at a hospital to help with those wounded in the war. It's there that she first meets Lon, her future fiancé. 

Will she ever find her way back to Noah? Is Duke Noah or is Duke Lon? Will old Allie remember her own love story at least one more time?

I love this movie! The rewatch volume is a little disappointing once you know the twist that Allie and Duke our the young couple from the story that Duke “Noah” is reading to Allie. However, watching both sets of Allie and Noah is just so sweet. Everything Noah has ever done was with the hope of getting his Allie back. To have someone so devoted to you would be a beautiful thing. I mean, he rebuilt a whole house with her in mind, and now in their advanced age, he spends his days reading to her hoping she will remember even if it's only a few minutes here and there. Their love is so powerful that she is able to come back to him and ask if their love can perform the miracle of them dying naturally together.  Word of advice have the tissues at hand for that scene. 

I'm going to give this 4.5 O's. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good romantic film.

Grab your DVD copy on Amazon 

You can Rent on Prime or if you have a subscription to MAX (hbo) you can watch it there!

Wanna read the book first? 

Grab a copy HERE or from your local library!