Alicia I love this movie so much

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

rooprect Lasse Hallström, the Swedish director who gave us Chocolat (2001), Gilbert Grape (1993) and Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) is at it again - making chick flicks for guys. This means, unlike your stereotypical chick flick whose leading man is a hollow beefcakey stud with as much personality as the scenery, here we get a complex beefcakey stud whom the chicks can swoon over whilst the bros say "duuuuude he's cool."In this case the protagonist is "John" (Channing Tatum) who plays an Army Special Forces character who can kill you with a toothpick but has total control over his emotions. Until, of couse, he meets "Savannah" (Amanda Seyfried) over his 2 week furlough before going back to war.As you might guess, the story explores the ultimate long distance relationship as John completes his 1 year tour as a soldier while Savannah waits at home. Sounds boring? Well wait, there are complications. John's father is autistic and his mother abandoned them years ago. So John is forced to be the responsible one, but the whole war/love thing throws him out of whack.Meanwhile Savannah has a few secrets of her own (and I gotta admit I totally didn't see it coming). And on top if it all, 9/11 hits and this forces John to make a decision whether to stay with his platoon and most likely get his butt blown off, or retire once his initial tour is over. Oh, and the movie begins with John getting blasted by gunfire, meaning the story unfolds in a huge flashback leaving us wondering the whole time if John dies or not.This is a very sentimental flick, much like the other Hallström movies I mentioned, but it doesn't get sappy or predictable. In fact at least 3 plot twists took me by total surprise. And I'm talking like "whoa duuuuude I never saw THAT coming" surprise."Dear John" focuses on interpersonal relationships when duty comes into play - and I'm not just talking about duty toward your country (a cleverly woven parallel), but duty to parents, children and those who need help. This is juxtaposed against selfish happiness, or the storybook love. Pay close attention to the characters' choices & sacrifices, and how these choices are based on duty/selflessness rather than "getting the girl". I think that's what makes this a unique romance. Whereas most Hollywood romance flicks focus on the problems of 2 lovers, "Dear John" presents us with an ideal love that is complicated by external loyalties.The trademark of Hallström movies is some other issue (not just love) driving the characters, and that's why these films aren't sappy or predictable. Another trademark is is use of gorgeous scenery, in this case the beaches of Charleston SC. He achieves a very nostalgic beach feeling, even for those of us who have only been to the beach once or twice in our lives (see also his film "Safe Haven" filmed in Southport, NC)."Dear John" is a quiet, sentimental film, so don't expect action, car chases & robots. But it delivers a few tricky plot twists, so it's never boring. If you're not familiar with Hallström's style, I'd say it's artistic without being over-the-top artsy. Think of Kieslowsky (Blue, White, Red trilogy) or Wim Wenders (Paris Texas, Wings of Desire) or possibly even Steven Soderbergh (Sex Lies & Videotape, Solaris, Magic Mike) and you'll have a general idea of how this film feels.

vaarmen OK, I read the book which was good but not great. After reading the book the movie is outright horrible. I don't even know I would understand what was going on in the movie if I hadn't read the book.The movie gets so many things from the book wrong - the characters, pivot points, key scenes and it does so in a ridiculous way. Add to this the terrible acting of Channing Tatum and the guy that plays Tim, and even Savannah and you get a mess.Some of the WTFs from the movie. Tim is Alan's father in the movie. WTF? Tim plays an awkward, ridiculous nice man whereas he is a confident, manly but still nice in the book. It is not shown and is unclear the previous relationship of Savannah and Tim. How Tim has always loved Savannah without her knowing. The character of John in the movie is such a pussy, especially the way he acts. The time-line seems to be a few months rather than years. In these few months Savannah marries Tim because he was sick? and he needed her? WTFThis could have been a slightly worse than an OK movie had I not read the book, but after the book its just horrible.

JÄnis Locis very light, calming and romantic movie, it is kind of a classic story, nothing too outrageous, the plot is kind linear and not very interesting, but what i liked about this movie was its easy and romantically calming pace and amazingly beautiful scenery.The acting was up there, since the main characters were played by Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum. If only the plot was little bit more interesting this could have been an outstanding love story, but, of course, it was very predictable, therefore not the greatest thing you will see. But eh... what can you want from a standard romantic drama.The couple of these two actors wasn't the worst out there, although, i didn't feel the chemistry between them a 100%, it was better than many reviewers here have said, i don't think these two actors were particularly bad picks for this film at all.Nothing crazy, very linear, slow paced and calm. Overall it is a decent movie to watch after a hard day of work just to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery this film surely had. Ohh... if only life would be as beautiful.

Veapanda My hopes weren't really high but still I get disappointed. The movie was kinda of blah and it really was just one boring story. Nothing special for me. It also was cliché movie. I didn't really like Savannah. She seemed like Mary Sue, the perfect character. John was better as character, but yet not anything special. Only interesting about this movie was John's father and the coins. Stories behind the coins were really fascinating. And I really like the John's father character, too. He was really sweet and he became my favorite character in the movie. Which is ironic, because she was only secondary character. But if you like the romance movies, I think this would be your movie.