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</script></div>{/googleAds}Ah, middle age. It's a difficult thing to comprehend and, based upon George C. Wolfe's Nights in Rodanthe (a terrible title, by the way), it is also a difficult thing to get right for the camera. Now, depending upon your expectations for an evening's entertainment and the company you keep, Rodanthe might be where you want to stay but make no mistake this is classic Nicholas Sparks' territory: romance, tears, sudden catastrophe, healing. Basically, you've seen this movie before countless times before because for the romantic genre, well, there are no surprises.

Nights in RodantheBy now you know the film reunites film stars Diane Lane (playing Adrienne Willis, a mother whose life has been turned upside down by an insincere husband) and Richard Gere (as Dr. Paul Flanner, a respected surgeon who put work before family and now must wrestle with his conscience in the face of defeat and loss) and traces their weekend connection at an Inn in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. (Who knew those coastal towns could be so gloomy and so stormy?) They meet, and in a memorable sequence (one of two), they dine together as Gere refuses to eat in silence and together they heal the wounds that have brought them to Rodanthe.

Excuse me while I gag. I mean, choke back a couple of well-earned tears as I write about this film. Nope. I meant gag. - as in with a spoon.

Predictable? Yes, but it gets more sappy than that, folks, because first and foremost - they must whether the storm (of life). Yes, I went there with that cliché. Why? Because the film, perhaps well-meaning in its portrayal of middle age, is so clichéd-ridden and clichéd-driven that it ceases to entertain its audience without insulting their intelligence. In fact, the only surprise is the uncredited appearance of James Franco as Gere's jilted son.

Besides the opening which seems to be Spielberg-esque in its swooping in and out of a car and on to the front door the director, George C. Wolfe (responsible for television's Lackawanna Blues) seems to be missing. There is nothing notable about the film, its structure, or even a reason for the jarring editing that plagues it. Hell, even the voice-overs seem uninspiring as the leads ponder their sudden romance and question whether it was the wine or the wind that caused them to fall under each other's spell.

The screenwriters of Nights in Rodanthe, Ann Peacock and John Romano, attempt to add some heaviness to Nicholas Sparks' light-as-a-feather-material. But, let's face it, how much more additional weight can be added to a book made so chubby by nothing by cheese? More, please? I think not.


Component Grades
Movie
DVD
2 stars
1 Star
DVD Experience
1.5 stars

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Screen formats: Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1

Screen Formats: 2.40:1

Subtitles: ESDH, Latin Spanish, French Canadian, Portuguese

Language and Sound: English, Latin Spanish, French Canadian, Portuguese

Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access.

Supplements:

* Commentary
o Feature-length commentary track with co-directors Ash Brannon and Chris Buck and producer Chris Jenkins
* Featurettes
o The Nature of Love - Director George C. Wolfe and the films stars, Richard Gere and Diane Lane, are joined by novelist Nicholas Sparks and singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris to share how the haunted beauty of the Outer Banks conspired with nature to inform their characters and inspire a mythical love story.
o A Time for Love: Keeping Up with Nicholas Sparks - An intimate look at one of literatures great over-achievers and the passions that inspired his fourteen best selling novels.
o In Rodanthe: An Intimate look at In Rodanthe, the song written for the film by Singer/Songwriter Emmy Lou Harris
* Alternate Scenes - with commentary by Director George C. Wolf
* Music video: Gavin Rossdale â"Love Remains the Same"
* Digital Copy: on Disc
+

Number of Discs: 2 (disc 2 is a digital copy) with Keepcase Packaging

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