The Notebook

It’s been a long time since I watched the Notebook, but it seemed like an easy one to watch during the second half of my flight from North Carolina to San Francisco. Somehow this movie has become (one of?) the most well known romance of the 21st century, but then again I’m not sure I can name any other romances that aren’t more in the “rom com” category. Love, Actually might be in that boat?

Regardless, this movie mixes some excellent actors and solid acting performances with some pretty ridiculous writing. The portrayals of the main characters are great, even if the characters are absurd. When we meet Noah, he’s apparently interesting because he is so Zany. Look, he climbs a Ferris wheel and lies in the middle of the road! What a rebel. On the other hand, Ally is a well off socialite with fancy parents who can probably do better. This feels a lot like Lady and the Tramp to me. Although broke, Noah eventually buys and rebuilds a giant mansion and then has apparently no job? He might be a bespoke carpenter, but we never see him actually sell anything. What exactly does he do here? How does he end up raising children, and why does his future self speak without any accent?

The movie is more enjoyable if we forget all of these things and focus on their love story. They are kids who are in love and never get over it, for reasons that are not completely clear. Neither of them is particularly nice to the other people in their lives, but we should probably ignore that as well.

Other than the acting, this movie does a good job of being emotionally manipulative. It also does an interesting job of linking their young romance to their future selves, which is the most novel part of the film. The best part of the film, however, is the scene where Noah asks Ally “What do you want” repeatedly, as it has now been repurposed for all kinds of couples memes. This movie will live forever.

It’s a fine movie. The acting is good enough that if you don’t pay much attention, it feels like a much better movie than it is. 6 out of 10.