Nights in Rodanthe
Writer: Nicholas Sparks (novel); Anne Peacock and John Romano (screenplay)
Director: George C. Wolfe
Cast: Diane Lane, Richard Gere, James Franco, Scott Glenn, Christopher Meloni, Viola Davis, Pablo Schreiber, Mae Whitman, and Charlie Tahan
Release Date: September 26, 2008
Review written sometime in August 2014
Nights in Rodanthe has all the trappings that a romance peddles itself with: There's a lovely set of houses lived in by beautiful people and a hotel on a forsaken seashore. Then there's the mandatory separation, the husband wanting to be forgiven and come back to the wife. And of course, there's the other man.
Caught in between the houses, the hotel, the men, and a lovely shore is Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane). She has to make up her mind: Either she breathes in the freedom and life of a fresh relationship or trundles down familiar territory for the sake of her children.
While she goes about making up her mind in the 90 minutes allocated to her, Viola Davis turns up as a sassy sprightly friend. Davis is around for, say, 10 minutes and does indulge in some unnecessary skin show. But that does not keep her away from her acting.
The movie, however, keeps away from what it is meant to be about: romance! Most of the time, Lane and Gere spend talking as if they are on a work assignment. I understand lovers talk a lot but none of the talk here had the essence of love in any of its syllables. There was no passion, no chemistry - nothing at all. Even the bedroom scenes seem to have been squeezed dry of any heat whatsoever.
Naturally then, a twist in the tale had to be necessary. And it's only after the twist that Lane wakes up the actress in her and you see sparks and flickers of her mettle.
Gere seems lost in the movie. He does not quite know what to do with the script nor does he realize he is letting his act resemble one of the several he has done before.
I would not blame him nor Lane either. The script seems to have enough in it to be the undoing of this movie. It is didactically slow in its pace. It seems in no hurry to get anywhere close to the climax nor does it rectify its lack of speed once the crux of the plot has been travelled through. The dialogues reek of clichés and the scenes seem to have been plucked from a dozen other such capers and sewn together.
The background score is just about adequately equipped to assist in this patchwork. You can hear the violins, the depressed piano, and the usual suspects in the musical arrangements. The music director seems to have taken great pains to ensure the score does not rise above the ordinary nor dip below the mundane either. It fills in the cracks and makes it its duty to distract you from the lack of substance.
The movie's beautifully shot and that distracts you even further! The vast expanses of the North Carolina seashore are marvellously encompassed in soothing hues of brown, blue, and white. The hotel by the seashore, though rundown and decrepit, is photogenic enough to lend the necessary mood to the story.
The problem - and an unavoidable one at that - is the lack of depth to the story. Romances seem rather simple on the surface, but the interplay of feelings and emotions beneath that mirage of simplicity is what makes them watchable and endearing.
Nights in Rodanthe has none of that on sale. All it has to offer is a one-dimensional tale that, try as it might, cannot quite manage to make itself worthwhile enough for your attention.
Writer: Nicholas Sparks (novel); Anne Peacock and John Romano (screenplay)
Director: George C. Wolfe
Cast: Diane Lane, Richard Gere, James Franco, Scott Glenn, Christopher Meloni, Viola Davis, Pablo Schreiber, Mae Whitman, and Charlie Tahan
Release Date: September 26, 2008
Review written sometime in August 2014
Nights in Rodanthe has all the trappings that a romance peddles itself with: There's a lovely set of houses lived in by beautiful people and a hotel on a forsaken seashore. Then there's the mandatory separation, the husband wanting to be forgiven and come back to the wife. And of course, there's the other man.
Caught in between the houses, the hotel, the men, and a lovely shore is Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane). She has to make up her mind: Either she breathes in the freedom and life of a fresh relationship or trundles down familiar territory for the sake of her children.
While she goes about making up her mind in the 90 minutes allocated to her, Viola Davis turns up as a sassy sprightly friend. Davis is around for, say, 10 minutes and does indulge in some unnecessary skin show. But that does not keep her away from her acting.
The movie, however, keeps away from what it is meant to be about: romance! Most of the time, Lane and Gere spend talking as if they are on a work assignment. I understand lovers talk a lot but none of the talk here had the essence of love in any of its syllables. There was no passion, no chemistry - nothing at all. Even the bedroom scenes seem to have been squeezed dry of any heat whatsoever.
Naturally then, a twist in the tale had to be necessary. And it's only after the twist that Lane wakes up the actress in her and you see sparks and flickers of her mettle.
Gere seems lost in the movie. He does not quite know what to do with the script nor does he realize he is letting his act resemble one of the several he has done before.
I would not blame him nor Lane either. The script seems to have enough in it to be the undoing of this movie. It is didactically slow in its pace. It seems in no hurry to get anywhere close to the climax nor does it rectify its lack of speed once the crux of the plot has been travelled through. The dialogues reek of clichés and the scenes seem to have been plucked from a dozen other such capers and sewn together.
The background score is just about adequately equipped to assist in this patchwork. You can hear the violins, the depressed piano, and the usual suspects in the musical arrangements. The music director seems to have taken great pains to ensure the score does not rise above the ordinary nor dip below the mundane either. It fills in the cracks and makes it its duty to distract you from the lack of substance.
The movie's beautifully shot and that distracts you even further! The vast expanses of the North Carolina seashore are marvellously encompassed in soothing hues of brown, blue, and white. The hotel by the seashore, though rundown and decrepit, is photogenic enough to lend the necessary mood to the story.
The problem - and an unavoidable one at that - is the lack of depth to the story. Romances seem rather simple on the surface, but the interplay of feelings and emotions beneath that mirage of simplicity is what makes them watchable and endearing.
Nights in Rodanthe has none of that on sale. All it has to offer is a one-dimensional tale that, try as it might, cannot quite manage to make itself worthwhile enough for your attention.
Comments