Dear John
Starring: Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins
Rating: 3.5 STARS
In the new romantic melodrama Dear John, Channing Tatum proves he is more than an six-pack ab man. As the career soldier John Tyree, Tatum has several scenes in which he knocks his character's emotions out of the ball park.
There's no subtlety in Dear John.
It's a true four-hankie weeper but hey it's from Nicholas Sparks, the man who penned Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe and, biggest and best of all, The Notebook. Sparks knows how to build a romance and then put it in jeopardy.
In this case, John is a former hell-raiser who's mended his ways and joined the army. It's his home. It's his life. It's where he feels safest.
On a summer leave he falls madly in love with Savanah Curtis (Amanda Seyfield). She's a rich, Southern belle from the horsie set. They are so wrong for each other in so many ways but then the heart is not the safest hunter.
They fall in love. She has to go to university. He has to go off to finish his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Then 9/11 strikes and John feels obligated to extend his tour of duty.
Will Savanah wait for him? Look at the title of the movie. There will be a "dear john" letter. But what will it say.
The movie boasts a terrific supporting cast in Richard Jenkins who plays John's father who has always seemed distant. We'll find out why. And then there's Henry Thomas as the good-ole-guy with the autistic son.
You'll sigh, You'll cry but it'll all the worth it.
