Nights in Rodanthe

This is a real tear-jerker. The acting is fantastic and the emotions seem very real. The story line is well-considered, but it is definitely not the typical love story. The best way to describe this film is that it just feels real. You could imagine the characters being pulled off the screen and placed in the "real world" without any problem. I would definitely recommend Nights in Rodanthe to those who like a good love story with plenty of drama.

Note: For those who haven't read the book or seen the film, spoilers appear below.

"Chick lit" becomes "chick flick" as author Nicholas Sparks gets another makeover by Hollywood. I've read none of Sparks' works, but my better half and I have seen all three film versions of his modern-day tearjerkers: "Message In a Bottle", "The Notebook" and now, "Nights in Rodanthe." This one has all the predictable elements for this genre, but the acting by the leads (especially Lane) is solid and the scenery is phenomenal, the film having been shot around North Carolina's Cape Hatteras and on Ocracoke and Cedar Islands, all of which helps make a fairly mundane story more compelling. (I've been up and down the Outer Banks at least six times during my life, and that was much of the draw of seeing this film, especially at mid-winter.)

Of special note is the performance put in by veteran actor Scott Glenn, playing a widower waiting for an apology from the Raleigh surgeon played by Gere. Glenn, who left Hollywood earlier in his career to hang out in Idaho and earn his keep in blue-collar jobs, got the hang of the local dialect in "Nights" by hanging with a crabber and generally melting into the neighborhood. The craggy-faced Glenn owns his scenes with Gere, not only through pitch-perfect dialect but also with an understated yet stinging "nuts to you, you don't get it" attitude. When Gere's character finally visits the widower's cottage, Glenn steals the camera lock, stock and barrel. There's an acting award here somewhere, at least in my book.

Cinematically, the only fault one might find with "Nights" comes at the end. Rather than close "Nights" with the spirited shots of Lane on the beach, mesmerized by a rare migration of the wild ponies that ordinarily confine themselves to the Virginia-Carolina border, the decision was made to tack on a wide shot of key characters peering out from a boardwalk - an unnecessary, even hackneyed action that drained some of the momentum from the film in its final moments.

"Nights in Rodanthe" isn't rocket science, but it's pretty to look at, the acting is more than workmanlike, and everyone loves a love story, right? Four stars for the film, five for Scott Glenn's performance.

Despite having a good cast 'Nights At Rodathe' never seems to get off the ground. Gere and Lane are fine actors and very likable, but I never felt any chemistry between them. I found watching the two of them fumbling around on the bed for an uncomfortable amount of time nauseating (Gere is 60). The characters are under developed and this makes for a boring first half and the "OH MY GOD" manipulative ending will make most viewers cry, but it made me laugh at its desperate attempt to save this mediocre film. All they needed to do is have Lane hang herself as the credits rolled to put the icing on the cake! On the plus side Scott Glen has an all too brief role as a grieving husband which is the film's best scenes.

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