- Dear John (2010 film)
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Dear John
Theatrical release posterDirected by Lasse Hallström Produced by Marty Bowen
Wyck Godfrey
Ryan KavanaughWritten by Jamie Linden Story by Nicholas Sparks (novel) Starring Channing Tatum
Amanda Seyfried
Henry Thomas
Richard Jenkins
Scott PorterMusic by Deborah Lurie Cinematography Terry Stacey Editing by Kristina Boden Studio Relativity Media Distributed by Screen Gems Release date(s) February 5, 2010 Running time 107 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $25,000,000[1] Box office $112,157,433[1] Dear John is a 2010 American romantic drama-war film starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. It was released theatrically in North America on February 5, 2010. The film was directed by Lasse Hallström, and it is an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks's novel of the same name. It follows the life of a soldier (Channing Tatum) after he falls in love with a young woman (Amanda Seyfried). They decide to exchange letters to each other after he is deployed to the war.
Despite receiving negative reviews, the film made a strong box office performance, knocking off Avatar after seven weekends in first place and grossing a total of $112,157,433 worldwide. The film was released on May 25, 2010 on DVD and Blu-ray.
Contents
Plot
John Tyree (Channing Tatum), a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army is lying on the ground in combat gear with multiple gunshot wounds to his body. Coins begin to fall over him as, in a voiceover, he recalls a childhood trip to the U.S. Mint. He compares himself to a coin in the United States Military, and states that the last thing he thought about before he blacked out was "you".
The story then flashes back to a beach, where John is on leave in Wilmington, North Carolina, and he meets Savannah Lynn Curtis (Amanda Seyfried), a college student on spring break. Over the course of two weeks, Savannah and John fall in love. John meets Savannah's family, her neighbor, Tim Wheddon (Henry Thomas), and Tim's son Alan (Luke Benward) who has autism.
Savannah meets John's father (Richard Jenkins), a reclusive man who seems to be obsessed with his coin collection (specifically mules), but her genuine interest draws him, to John's surprise. Savannah mentions to John that his father, like Alan, may have autism. This upsets John, who gets into a fight with Savannah's neighbor, Randy (Scott Porter) and, in the process, accidentally punches Tim. John apologizes to Tim, leaves Savannah a note, and then they spend one last day together, parting with, "I'll see you soon, then," rather than goodbye.
John and Savannah continue their relationship through letters, expecting to build a life together when he leaves the army. But the September 11 attacks make him reconsider, and he ultimately chooses to re-enlist. Over the next two years, the romance goes on, through their letters. After a time, John finds himself anxiously waiting the next letter, but when it arrives it is a Dear John letter, informing him that she has become engaged to someone else. John is so deeply depressed by the news that he burns all of Savannah's letters.
Despite being wounded and encouraged to return home, John re-enlists. After four more years and many missions, while waiting to receive orders on his unit's next deployment, John is informed that his father had a stroke. When John arrives at the hospital he learns that his father is still alive but in grave condition. Feeling guilty, he asks the doctor if the outcome would have been different if he had been there earlier but the doctor says no. John writes a letter to his father, which he reads to him at the hospital; John's voiceover at the beginning of the film was from this letter, in which he told his father that the first thing to cross his mind after he was shot was coins, and the last thing to cross his mind before he lost consciousness was his dad, ultimately the most important thing in his life. Shortly thereafter, his father dies.
John goes to visit Savannah and is shocked to find that she has married Tim and is living with him and his son, Alan. He learns that she had to abandon her dream of a riding camp for autistic kids because of Tim's fight against lymphoma, and John goes with her to visit him in the hospital. Tim tells John that Savannah still loves him; but John says goodbye to Savannah and leaves. He makes a decision to sell all of his father's coin collection except the mule that John found, to raise money which could help Tim in his treatment. Months later John receives a letter from Savannah telling him "I'll see you soon, then."
The movie ends with John and Savannah meeting each other in town one day.
Cast
- Channing Tatum as John
- Amanda Seyfried as Savannah Lynn Curtis
- Scott Porter as Randy Welch
- Richard Jenkins as Mr. Tyree
- Henry Thomas as Tim Wheddon
- D.J. Cotrona as Noodles
- Cullen Moss as Rooster
- Gavin McCulley as Starks
- Bryce Hayes as Harris (Cameo)
- Braeden Reed as Alan
- Luke Benward as Alan (14)
- Amanda Garsys as Gawky Girl at party
Soundtrack
- Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk – "Paperweight"
- The Swell Season – "The Moon"
- 311 – "Amber"
- The Donkeys – "Excelsior Lady"
- Wailing Souls – "Things & Time"
- Amanda Seyfried and Marshall Altman – "Little House"
- Fink – "This Is the Thing"
- Rachel Yamagata and Dan Wilson – "You Take My Troubles Away"
- Deborah Lurie – Dear John Theme
- Snow Patrol ft. Martha Wainwright – "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" (Bonus Track)
- Other songs from the movie not on the CD soundtrack
- Ryan Adams – "Answering Bell"
- Amanda Seyfried – "Little House" (Acoustic)
- Ozomatli – "Saturday Night"
- Brian Tichy – "Dead in Your Tracks"
- Gaye Tolan Hatfield – "Let Her Gift Be Me"
- Brad Hatfield – "Ballroom Ballad"
Music
The score to Dear John was composed by Deborah Lurie, who recorded her score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Warner Brothers Eastwood Scoring Stage.[2] A soundtrack album containing songs was released on February 2, 2010 from Relativity Media Group, and a score album was released digitally the same day.[citation needed]
Awards and Nominations
Year Award Category Work Result 2011 People's Choice Awards[citation needed] Favorite Drama Movie Dear John Nominated 2011 MTV Movie Awards Best Male Performance Channing Tatum Nominated 2011 MTV Movie Awards Best Female Performance Amanda Seyfried Nominated 2011 Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie -Drama Dear John Nominated Seyfried and Tatum also received Teen Choice Award and MTV Movie Award nominations for their performances.
Reception
Critical response
The film receives generally negative reviews by critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 28% of 95 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4.3 out of 10.[3] Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 20%, based on a sample of 25 reviews. The site's consensus is that "Built from many of the same ingredients as other Nicholas Sparks tearjerkers, Dear John suffers from its cliched framework, as well as Lasse Hallstrom's curiously detached directing."[4] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 1–100 reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 43% based on 33 reviews.[5]
Box office
Dear John debuted as the No. 1 movie with $30,468,614 in its opening weekend,[6] knocking off Avatar after seven weekends in first place. The film was the second highest debut for a film opening Super Bowl weekend, just shy of Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert in 2008.[7] It is reportedly the best debut for a film based on a Nicholas Sparks novel.[7] By 2011 it had generated $114,977,104 at the box office.
Home media
The film was released on May 25, 2010 on DVD and Blu-ray. It includes an alternate ending in its special features that is more in keeping with the ending of the novel, leaving the viewer to decide which is a more appropriate ending to the film.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Dear John (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dearjohn.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
- ^ Goldwasser, Dan (2010-01-25). "Deborah Lurie scores Dear John". ScoringSessions.com. http://www.scoringsessions.com/news/202/. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
- ^ "Dear John Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dear_john/. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
- ^ "Dear John: Top Critics". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dear_john/?critic=creamcrop. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
- ^ "Dear John (2010): Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/dearjohn. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
- ^ "SUPER BOWL OPENINGS". Amazon.com. http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/superbowl.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
- ^ a b Brandon Gray (2010-02-08). "Weekend Report: ‘Dear John’ Delivers, ‘Avatar’ Flies High Again". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2670&p=.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
External links
- Official website
- Dear John at the Internet Movie Database
- Dear John at AllRovi
- Dear John at Rotten Tomatoes
- Dear John at Metacritic
- Dear John at Box Office Mojo
Films directed by Lasse Hallström 1970s A Guy and a Gal (1975) · ABBA: The Movie (1977) · Father to Be (1979)1980s Tuppen (1981) · Happy We (1983) · My Life as a Dog (1985) · The Children of Noisy Village (1986) · More About the Children of Noisy Village (1987)1990s Once Around (1991) · What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) · Something to Talk About (1995) · The Cider House Rules (1999)2000s Chocolat (2000) · The Shipping News (2001) · An Unfinished Life (2005) · Casanova (2005) · The Hoax (2007) · Hachiko: A Dog's Story (2009)2010s Dear John (2010) · Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)Author Novels The Notebook (1996) · Message in a Bottle (1998) · A Walk to Remember (1999) · The Rescue (2000) · A Bend in the Road (2001) · Nights in Rodanthe (2002) · The Guardian (2003) · The Wedding (2003) · True Believer (2005) · At First Sight (2006) · Dear John (2006) · The Choice (2007) · The Lucky One (2008) · The Last Song (2009) · Safe Haven (2010) · The Best of Me (2011)Non-fiction Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding (1990) · Three Weeks With My Brother (2004)Film adaptations Message in a Bottle (1999) · A Walk to Remember (2002) · The Notebook (2004) · Nights in Rodanthe (2008) · Dear John (2010) · The Last Song (2010) · The Lucky One (2012)Website: www.nicholassparks.com Categories:- 2010 films
- American films
- English-language films
- 2010s drama films
- American romantic drama films
- Films based on romance novels
- Films based on the September 11 attacks
- Films directed by Lasse Hallström
- Films set in South Carolina
- Films shot in South Carolina
- Films set in the 2000s
- Relativity Media films
- Screen Gems films
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