The Notebook Family Review

A poor yet passionate young man (Ryan Gosling) falls in love with a rich young woman (Rachel McAdams), giving her a sense of freedom, but they are soon separated because of their social differences.In a nursing home, resident Duke (James Garner) reads a romance story to an old woman (Gena Rowlands) who has senile dementia with memory loss. In the late 1930s, wealthy 17-year-old Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) is spending summer vacation in Seabrook. Local worker Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) meets Allie at a carnival and they soon fall in love with each other. One day, Noah brings Allie to an ancient house that he dreams of buying and restoring and they attempt to make love but get interrupted by their friend. Allie's parents do not approve of their romance since Noah belongs to another social class, and they move to New York with her. Noah writes 365 letters (one a day for a year) to Allie, but her mother Anne Hamilton (Joan Allen) does not deliver them to her daughter. Three years later, the United States joins the World War II and Noah and his best friend Fin (Kevin Connolly) enlist in the army, and Allie works as an army nurse. She meets injured soldier Lon Hammond (James Marsden) in the hospital. After the war, they meet each other again going on dates and then, Lon, who is wealthy and handsome, proposes. Meanwhile, Noah buys and restores the old house and many people want to buy it. When Allie accidentally sees the photo of Noah and his house in a newspaper, she feels divided between her first love and her commitment with Lon. Meanwhile, Duke stops reading to the old lady since his children are visiting him in the nursing home.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilIn a care facility, Duke (James Marsden), a resident, has to get permission to read to fellow resident, Ms. Hamilton (Gena Rowlands), on a daily basis, as Ms. Hamilton's health is deteriorating, she who has Alzheimer's. The story is always the same one, which he reads out of his notebook, and which she sometimes remembers that she has heard before, is captivated by but cannot remember how it turns out. It details the love affair between Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Allie (Rachel McAdams) beginning in 1940 in Seabrook Island, South Carolina, when Allie was 17 and on the brink of her college life, most likely at Sarah Lawrence in faraway New York. Their relationship was improbable because of their differing social classes and outlooks which led to their relationship being characterized by constant arguments with each other out of their passion. While Noah was a carefree and working class local who had a 40-cent/hour job at a lumber yard, Allie was from a privileged family, her mother (Joan Allen) who grew up in Seabrook Island and where they were staying only for the summer. There were many obstacles to a Noah/Allie happy ending, most specifically WWII and her parents, especially her mother, who did not approve of the relationship and did whatever she could to end it. That happy Noah/Allie ending is not a guarantee due to these obstacles. As the story progresses and as the daily realities of present day occur, the reason why Duke feels the need to tell Ms. Hamilton the story and what he hopes she gets out of it become more and more evident.—HuggoWith almost religious devotion, Duke (James Garner), a kindly octogenarian inmate of a peaceful nursing home, reads daily a captivating story from the worn-out pages of his leather-bound notebook to a fellow Alzheimer's-stricken woman (Gena Rowlands). To keep her company, Duke recounts the fascinating love affair of the impecunious but poetic country boy, Noah (Ryan Gosling), and the affluent city girl, Allie (Rachel McAdams), unfolding, little by little, a lumber-scented Southern summer romance beneath the trees of late-1930s North Carolina. More and more, the silver-haired patient finds herself immersed in the strangely alluring fairy tale of the young ardent lovers' highs and lows as if the silent manuscript possessed the unfathomable power to penetrate the opaque clouds that shroud her sad soul. But, what does the future have in store for Allie and Noah? Are all summertime idylls doomed to fail?—Nick RiganasThe movie focuses on an old man (James Garner) reading a story to an old woman (Gena Rowlands) in a nursing home. The story he reads follows two young lovers named Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) and Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling), who meet one evening at a carnival. But they are separated by Allie's parents who disapprove of Noah's unwealthy family, and move Allie away. After waiting for Noah to write her for several years, Allie meets and gets engaged to a handsome young soldier named Lon (James Marsden). Allie, then, with her love for Noah still alive, stops by Noah's 200-year-old home that he restored for her, "to see if he's okay." It is evident that they still have feelings for each other, and Allie has to choose between her fiancé and her first love.—Jessica Cymerman1 moreAll