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Nights in Rodanthe (2008)

Director: George C. Wolfe

Time Out rating

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6 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

In Hollywood’s rush to keep audiences under 30 sated, more mature viewers and characters have been edged out of the picture. The arrival of this fortysomething romance, adapted from a novel by Nicholas ‘The Notebook’ Sparks, prompts hopes of a good old-fashioned ‘woman’s picture’, but the experience is more like watching a glossier version of some synthetic afternoon telemovie. Oh dear.

The set-up: on a picturesque island off North Carolina, Adrienne (Diane Lane) is estranged from her husband, but under pressure from her kids to take him back. She wangles a weekend on her own to think things over and spends it looking after her friend’s bed and breakfast, where the only guest is troubled Dr Tanner (Richard Gere), and the forecast is for some very stormy weather.

What happens next is what you’d expect, as the two rattle around the house, share confidences, strike sparks and get progressively more windswept. The film’s astute enough to place conflicts between parenting and self-determination centre stage, yet, with dialogue of such toe-curling triteness it would shame a greeting card, it’s no wonder the performers are evidently more comfortable letting looks and body language spell out their hesitant attraction. Lane works so hard you wish she was in a better movie, but Broadway director George C Wolfe’s inexperience with visual storytelling makes everything go with a clunk. Shame.

Author: Trevor Johnston

Time Out London Issue 1990: Oct 7 - 15, 2008

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User reviews of this film

Yo said...

Posted on Nov 03 2008 20:13 ....in addition to that, the film didn't show why Adrienne's husband left him - that is, for a youger woman that made him easily neglect his responsibilty that could cause terrible emotional damage to the kids made by the divorce. ignoring this made Adrienne inconsiderate and selfish in terms of their kids sake when the hubby tried to reconcile with him even before he met Paul (which is not the true story in Spark's novel).
ERRATUM: on my first review, it should be "mourning" instead of "morning". sorry, got carried away.

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Yo said...

Posted on Nov 03 2008 19:33 if i were Nicholas Sparks, i'd probably file a lawsuit for ruining my beautiful novel. the movie was so poor (must be shameful for Diane and Richard that they've done this movie)..and whats the need of revising the plot anyway? one of the main points that the novel taught was the value of family ties portrayed by the closeness of Adrienne to his sick father which she's trying to teach her daughter who's now morning for his lost husband leaving her abandoning her kids? where the hell did that went? why all of a sudden his father died earlier and the timeline was changed. I woudnt have directed or produced any film if only the outcome is to be seen like this. crappy and very disappointing.

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Pauline said...

Posted on Oct 14 2008 22:30 Good film up until the last 20 mins, when it becomes heavy, laboured and almost uncomfortable to watch.

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gail said...

Posted on Oct 09 2008 20:57 I went to New York last week to see this film as a birthday gift from my husband. Thoroughly enjoyed the film but not one of Richard's best. Diane Lane did a wonderful performance and the chemistry between her and Richard was first class. I felt they did a good job trying to condence a long story into under 2 hours on the big screen. Go Richard!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Nicky said...

Posted on Oct 09 2008 18:20 It’s on the slight side storywise, but Diane Lane is such a wonderful actress that she can turn anything into enchanting stardust. One for the romantics.

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Denzel said...

Posted on Oct 07 2008 13:01 This was a superb film. Very touching, poignant and involving. The characters were real and you cared for them. The film is also beautiful to look at and is well served by tremendous performances. Diane Lane in particular is superb in the lead role. Recommended!

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