‘The Vow’

Director: Michael Sucsy

Starring: Channing Tatum, Rachel McAdams

Release Date: Feb. 10

2/5 popcorns

 

You might be surprised to learn that ‘The Vow’ is not based on a Nicholas Sparks novel.

The misconception is easy to understand, what with the movie’s two impossibly good-looking leads and the use of a Taylor Swift ballad in its trailers. After all, who else would put Rachel McAdams through the arduous task of playing opposite a Hollywood heartthrob once again?

In ‘The Vow,’ a man has to romance his wife all over again after she loses her memory in a car crash. It’s the kind of movie we’d come to expect from a genre dominated by Nicholas Sparks best-sellers and knockoffs. It’s like buttery comfort food: You don’t really need it, but who can blame you for sneaking some mac and cheese?

In spite of its premise, the film retains some merit by never veering too deeply into melodrama. Although you never lose sight of the movie’s trajectory, it does a commendable job of easing up on sappy moments in exchange for spots of humor.

Channing Tatum and McAdams have charm to spare as Leo and Paige, a husband and wife living a chic lifestyle in the middle of Chicago. He’s a music studio owner, and she’s a sculptor in a near-perfect replication of her role in ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife,’ another weepy romance.

There’s enough chemistry at work here that we believe in their relationship long before Paige is catapulted through a windshield in grotesquely elegant slow motion. Their courtship plays like a hipster love dream, a montage with lots of plaid, abstract art and wedding vows written on takeout menus — look how in love they are.

After the accident, Paige’s memories are wiped clean and replaced with those of a former self. In her mind, she’s still a Lake Forest socialite attending law school and engaged to a slick, suit-and-tie-wearing guy — the complete opposite of the free-spirited lifestyle she had with Leo. Consequently, Leo is suddenly introduced to previously unknown aspects of her previous life, including her conservative parents who disapprove of their marriage. Sound familiar? It must have taken an incredible amount of restraint to keep from casting James Marsden as Paige’s wealthy ex-fiancé.

Tatum is surprisingly satisfactory as a doting husband, whose repeated attempts at helping his wife remember their marriage can thaw even the coldest and most skeptical of hearts. He’s never been a particularly strong actor, but even as an uncomfortable and misplaced hipster (did I mention the fedora?), he’s empathetic enough to accept these misgivings.

McAdams, on the other hand, is as good as she wants to be. Every character we’ve ever seen her play surfaces at one point or another during ‘The Vow.’ She’s every bit as confused and sympathetic as Allie in ‘The Notebook,’ but she can also be as cold and humorless as we’ve seen her in ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Midnight in Paris.’ But this tonal imbalance often makes it difficult to invest in her character, leaving Tatum to shoulder most of the aww-inducing work.

It might be worth noting that ‘The Vow’ is loosely based on true events, a fact we’re reminded of at the movie’s beginning and end. The disclaimer almost seems like a cop-out for its calculated plays on audience emotion. Those I talked to before watching the movie — including the friend I dragged to the theater with me — repeatedly said they were ready to cry, box of tissues in hand. With expectations like that, it’s easy to resent a movie for its obvious emotional cues: sob at this song; empathize at this voiceover.

No one said ‘The Vow’ had to be good, only that it had enough romance and reason for us to care. And while it mostly succeeds in the latter, you can’t help but wonder if those tears were well earned in the end.

dataroy@syr.edu

Published on February 15, 2012 at 12:00 pm