The Vow

The Vow was made for the Valentine's Day audience. As I went into this movie on the evening of February 14th, the theatre was packed with couples. This movie gave them exactly what they paid for. There were plenty of cute moments that make you say, "ahhhhhh." There strange nostalgic moments that makes you realize exactly how much time Rachel McAdams forgot (wait for the moment when she turns to Channing Tatum and asks him who the President of the United States is).

This movie delivered for the audience at large. But several problems persist. For such a unique perspective on memory loss, The Vow falls into the flow of the average romantic comedy. As the core of the storyline develops (which strangely reminds me of Terri Schiavo), I can't help but feel like I have seen this before. There were so many interesting possibilities that a memory-loss movie could pursue. Instead, the writing team (which is known for big star movies such as He's Just Not That Into You and Valentine's Day) decides to take the safe route. The writing team stops this movie from being great.

Despite its problems, The Vow relies heavily on its actors. With Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Sam Neill, and Scott Speedman (who I still see as the romantic interest from the TV hit "Felicity), relying so heavily on your actors is perfectly alright. Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum have a chemistry that I didn't expect. This chemistry drives the storyline forwards and leads to several dramatic and hilarious scenes that will surprise you.

I need to make a note about movies that are "Based on a True Story." It's difficult to take these story lines at face value. By basing a story on true events, the producers are hoping that you will not look too far into the plausibility of the situation. When you compare the movie with the true events, however, the differences are immense. Namely, the movie makes the crash result in one problem: the loss of several years of memories. In reality, the woman what badly hurt and also suffered from severe short term memory loss. The possibility of losing several years of memories and not haven't any other physical side-effects (aside form a tiny scar around her eyes) is almost entirely impossible.

The Vow is cute enough to enjoy at face-value. If you are looking for a movie to simply enjoy and not think too deeply, this is the movie for you. 2012 has been an awful year for Romantic Comedies. One for the Money was dreadful. This Means War promises to be almost as bad. If you are pining for a romantic comedy, this will fill your appetite until the first great one of the year is released. Looking over the list of romantic comedies to be released, however, there isn't much. My money is on the new American Pie movie.

While reading up on "The Vow", I learned that professional reviewers didn't particularly care for this film. The same can be said for many of the IMDb reviews. While I would disagree, since I really enjoyed the film, I can certainly understand some of the dislike. For folks wanting a traditional romantic film, "The Vow" isn't exactly a date movie. A traditional date film has a formula--including a happy ending. And, oddly, the film ends on a hopeful but vague note--disappointing those needing the happy finale.

In addition to reading up on the reviews, I also looked into the story of Kimand Krickitt Carpenter--the couple whose real life story inspired this film. I say inspires because so much of the film is fictional and the religious faith of the Carpenters was omitted in "The Vow". It's sad, as although you don't want a preachy film, it's odd how in films today there is NO reference to God or almost none and this might have been an interesting addition to the movie.

Now on to the film. The story, if you don't know, is about a newly married couple who are in a terrible traffic accident. Leo (Channing Tatum) is okay but his wife, Paige (Rachel McAdams) is left in a coma. Oddly, when she awakens, she has a strange sort of amnesia where the most recent portion of her life is missing. This means she has no idea who her husband is and their time together is, naturally, quite uncomfortable and awkward. At the same time, Paige's no longer existent relationship with her parents is suddenly given a second chance and they work hard to recapture her love and make her the girl she used to be. What will become of poor Leo?

The two leads, McAdams and Tatum were quite good in the film and easy to watch. The script rather clever and enjoyable. And, overall I have very little negative to say about the film. Well worth seeing--just be forewarned that although there is a lot of romance in the film, it is not at all traditional or what you might expect from such a movie.

The Vow is a wonderful little movie. At first blush, the movie seemed like it's another 50 First Dates, but without the comedy. The only similarity to 50 First Dates is that both the female leads suffer from amnesia with their respective significant others trying to win her heart. The Vow actually comes across having a feel more like The Notebook.

It's the story of the romance between Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams), and who are victims of a car accident. Leo recovers, but Paige emerges with no memories of her whole relationship nor marriage to Leo, and he must now make her fall in love with him again. In her mind, as Leo says in one of the trailers for this movie, she's still engaged to her ex-fiancé.

The movie manages to avoid cheap Hollywood writing, and gently leads you down its plot. Just when you think you might know where the story is going, it heads in a different direction. Details are revealed to you layer by layer as Paige discovers them. Tatum's voice-over was somewhat annoying, and unnecessary.

In trying to remember her memories, Paige manages to gain a new life. Opening in time for Valentine's Day, this makes for a wonderful date-night movie.

Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams) have been happily married for 4 years. Then they're in a car accident. They're both fine but Paige has completely lost her memory of the previous years--including meeting Leo, falling in love and marrying him. Leo is determined to help her regain her memory but her nasty parents (Sam Neill and Jessica Lange) don't like him and want her to live with them and let Leo go.

I won't lie--I went to see this to see Tatum's butt shot (which lasts all of 12 seconds). It's worth seeing but so is the movie! It's pretty well-done and I was never bored. The movie never gets too syrupy and doesn't try to force the audience to cry. There are some beautiful shots of Chicago and a good music score. Tatum can't act (everybody knows that) but he still is very good in most of his scenes. McAdams is excellent in her role. Also (even better) is that these two play off each other very well and makes you root for them even more.

On the debit side--Neill and Lange are stuck with the evil parents roles and can do little with them. Even worse is Scott Speedman as an ex-fiancé. He looks terrible and doesn't even try to act. The movie moves unsteadily. Scenes start out of nowhere and seem to end before they're finished (I'm assuming there was a lot of prerelease cutting). Still, I liked it and I'm not ashamed to admit that I broke down crying more than once. If you like chick flicks and rom-coms this is for you. I give it a 7.

Throughly enjoyable...except for the f*rt gag...And the f*rt gag is worth mentioning because it was foul.

Otherwise, switch off your brain and enjoy the gorgeous Channing Tatum laugh, cry and bare his beautiful buns -- and all in the name of love.

It's a film that doesn't bear much examination. It's a chick flick with a dumb heroine (why are they always artists???) who wouldn't know love unless it smacked her in the gob...which it eventually does.

The reveal where we find out why she originally changed so radically is like: Oh, get over yourself, girlfriend! The punishment hardly fits the crime...unless you're 12.

But who cares. It's a fairytale. And for me it worked.