(The post below was originally written 2/21/09 but never posted.)
A Second Opinion on "Nights in Rodanthe"
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=63456346059&h=B29ih&u=pe9rO
Above is a link to what another blogger had to say about "Nights in Rodanthe". It's worth reading and considering but I still say the movie was drivel. Plus now it is having the added bonus of not wanting to go away, kind of like Angelina Jolie. So I'll write about it again, because believe me, I have more to say....
An interesting thing about the post from the other blogger who is obviously a fan of the movie, is that she also believes the movie is implausble. But her problem is with the number of days it takes the couple to fall in love. Not so with me!! After all I can remember being in college and meeting a guy. After a night beside some fireplace in some lodge or maybe sitting in some library, or in a hotel hallway during sales school having some deep philosophical or religious discussion I would feel something akin to love. It can happen, a magic connection over a short meeting. I believe in love at first sight or first conversation or first weekend. My problem is with the fact that they have NO REASON to fall in love. No chemistry, no comfort, no deep conversation, not even a shared experience in their history. She cares about what he's struggling with, but that just makes her human. All they really have, admit it now, is alcohol and a storm.
My second problem is this....(spoiler alert, if you haven't seen the movie, stop now). As implausible as the romance is, the death of Richard Gere's character is even less plausible. He goes to a Central (or was it South?) American country and dies in a mudslide. A mudslide??? I'm naturally a very sympathetic and empathic person, I cry during Hallmark commercials, but I had to breathe deeply to avoid laughing, yes laughing, out loud during that scene. You're Richard Gere, you can't out run mud?? Now if you're from or have ever been to one of those countries where they have mudslides I apologize. I understand that natural disasters are serious things and that sometimes people get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. But seriously, at that point the movie crossed the line completely for me and became a comedy. My shoulders shook and I dabbed at my eyes but no one could guess why. What made it worse was that my dear friend, the married woman, was sitting beside me crying her eyes out. I think I reached inside my purse and passed her a kleenex. I think I managed to look plausibly sympathetic, but if she was buying what was on the screen my acting didn't have to be good to be convincing.
My last complaint is that there were too many shots of Diane Lane's rear end. Not that I have anything against Diane or her rear, but it has been my experience that the more a director has to rely on shots of a specific body part, the less there actually is to hold your attention in the movie. Maybe the rear-view shots were for the guys to look at while their wives and girlfriends dabbed at their tears. If that's the reason, then I forgive them.
Then, as if I hadn't been through enough already, during the drive home my friend the married woman wanted to re-hash the movie and talk about the scenes and how meaningful the movie was. I think I managed to nod and say "mm hmm" in the right places. My heart was in the right place and I truly felt a tug that she was relating somehow to the romance and sadness, while I on the other hand was thinking about the sadness of the romance. Before you judge me just remember that I've been watching Richard Gere since "Pretty Woman" and Diane Lane since "A Little Romance" so I know everyone will be ok. Personally I think the most convincing performance all night was my own.
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