"Nights in Rodanthe" Review - Written by TonyD

“Nights in Rodanthe”
2008
** out of ****
Director: George C. Wolfe
Cast: Diane Lane, Richard Gere, James Franco


As a film reviewer, I try to go into every film with an open mind, but sometimes, it just doesn’t work out. I went into “Nights in Rodanthe” thinking that I was going to HATE it, and if you remember the last movie adapted from a book a few years back, I should have had every little bit of reason to think I was going to hate it. Nothing against Nicholas Sparks or any of the few filmmakers that adapted his work or the actors that starred in their films, but I can’t deal with sappy romance, on and off screen, and I really can’t tolerate girls telling me about how sad “A Walk to Remember” is.

Sorry, but it’s not.

But I must admit that even I was surprised by “Nights in Rodanthe.” It still isn’t a great movie by any means, and isn’t even decent, but with its moments here and there, the brilliant acting, and an ending that if I had even a fourth of a heart I probably would have shed a tear, “Nights in Rodanthe” could have been much worse. When I say much worse, I mean “The Notebook”-worse.

Diane Lane plays an unhappy married mother named Adrienne. Her daughter (Mae Whitman) hates her and her husband (Christopher Meloni) can’t live without her (but it’s the opposite with her). Her best friend Jean (Viola Davis) has to leave town for the weekend and Adrienne takes over running the little inn that Jean owns and operates. She leaves her kids with her husband for the weekend, expecting nothing. A man that is staying there, Dr. Paul Flanner, (Richard Gere) expected nothing but grief. But once the two of them come together on this very weekend in preparation for a big storm hitting the shores of Rodanthe, sparks fly, and romance is in the air.

I can think of some ways that “Nights in Rodanthe” does work. One of them have to do with the moments where we are just around with Diane Lane and Richard Gere. No, not with them together. There is nothing that I want to see less than two middle-aged people kissing and banging, because I could see that for free at home. But what holds the film together is when they are acting away from each other. There is a scene with Gere talking to a man played by Scott Glenn and this really does show that the man has acting talents. When he’s with Diane Lane? It’s almost like he’s in “Untraceable 2: Even More Untraceable.”

The ending is really good too. I don’t want to really spoil anything, especially for people who haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but it definitely brings the movie to a satisfying conclusion. And unlike “The Notebook,” this time the ending actually works, because we’re not being fooled the entire time by our narrator. I actually think of “The Notebook” being the romantic version of “Righteous Kill,” with less violence and more kissy-lovey. “Nights of Rodanthe” takes its time with the ending, revealing every last bit of our main characters’ feelings.

I should not forget about the amazing setting of the film. Rodanthe doesn’t play as more of a place for the film, but it should be considered as a whole another character as well. The biggest problem with the setting, though, is when the film takes a turn in the second act when the storm takes place. The film doesn’t focus on Rodanthe, but focuses on the two characters and their relationship. I wouldn’t be bitching if the film didn’t need to focus on that storm, but fuck, the film really needed to focus on THAT STORM.

And there are plenty of problems, one of them being Diane Lane. She comes off as a slightly more normal version of Julianne Moore. She isn’t playing anyone believable; she’s playing an overly-miserable woman who isn’t happy with her life. Had she been suicidal and a little bit more self-loathing, I might have believed her role a little bit more.

Another problem was James Franco. He plays Dr. Paul’s son, who hasn’t talked to him since Richard Gere accidentally did something that he is still paying for. He wasn’t terrible, but there isn’t enough of him. His role is small but important, and if his role was really that important, the film should have focused a little bit more on his character and not as much on the growing relationship between Lane and Gere. The biggest upset though is that if he was in the movie a little bit more, he would have probably been nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He’ll just have to stick to either “Milk” or “Pineapple Express,” and yes, I think he deserves one for that stoner flick. He played the PERFECT stoner.

Still, while I can’t really give too much pity on the film because I enjoyed it a bit, I can say that it is far from flawless. Though, this is a start for movies adapted from Nicholas Sparks novels. “The Notebook” wasn’t a good movie because the audience was teased from the beginning. “A Walk to Remember” wasn’t a good flick because the actors were stiff the entire time and never showed any emotion. “Nights in Rodanthe,” though, is one of the films that either you will like or hate, or in my case, you’ll be in between.