Dear John (I) (2010)

A romantic drama about a soldier who falls for a conservative college student while he's home on leave.

Director:

Lasse Hallström

Writers:

Jamie Linden (screenplay), Nicholas Sparks (novel)

Stars:

Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins

1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Channing Tatum	...	John Tyree
Amanda Seyfried	...	Savannah Curtis
Richard Jenkins	...	Bill Tyree
Henry Thomas	...	Tim Wheddon
D.J. Cotrona	...	Noodles
Cullen Moss	...	Rooster (Dan Rooney)
Gavin McCulley	...	Starks
Jose Lucena Jr.	...	Berry (as Jose Lucena)
Keith Robinson	...	Captain Stone
Scott Porter	...	Randy
Leslea Fisher	...	Susan
William Howard Bowman	...	Daniels (as William Howard)
David Andrews	...	Mr. Curtis
Mary Rachel Dudley	...	Mrs. Curtis
Bryce Hayes	...	Yellow Shirt

Storyline

While John is on leave in his hometown, he finds Savannah, a college student visiting the town. Although love was unexpected, it doesn't mean they didn't find it. With the knowledge of John having to leave for the army, their love still lives, until his re-signs on due to the 9/11 attack. Troubles invade and their love put on hold. One cannot bear it anymore; can the other?

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Plot Keywords:

leave | love | college | army | u.s. army | 

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Taglines:

Love brought them together will fate tear them apart.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sensuality and violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Querido John

Filming Locations:

Oak Island, North Carolina, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,995,301 (UK) (16 April 2010)

Gross:

£5,445,790 (UK) (14 May 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Screen Gems, Relativity Media, Temple Hill Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Swedish flag can be seen flying over John's camp in Afghanistan. This is an homage to director Lasse Hallström's home country of Sweden.

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Goofs

Where John fire his weapon at a terrorist, the view of his weapon changes from a M4 to a M249 SAW and back to an M4.

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Quotes

John Tyree: You're starting to make me a little nervous.
Savannah Curtis: Why am I starting to make you nervous?
John Tyree: Because I'm starting to think you might be too good of a person for me.
Savannah Curtis: Oh. No, I'm not that good of a person.
John Tyree: You're sneaking off every day to do manual labor on a house for charity. On your spring break.
Savannah Curtis: Yeah, you're right. It's selfish, really, me being this generous.
John Tyree: But no, seriously. You don't drink, you don't smoke.
Savannah Curtis: Nope. Nope.
John Tyree: You probably don't sleep around.
Savannah Curtis: Absolutely not.
[...]

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Connections

Spoofed in Vampires Suck (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Amber"
Written by Nick Hexum
Performed by 311
Courtesy of Volcano Entertainment III, LLC and The RCA/Jive Label Group, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Don't read the book if you want to see and/or like this movie...

I'll try to make this short and sweet, like the two weeks the two characters spent together before all hell broke loose:

If you read the book, lower your expectations. If you haven't read the book,...well, you can raise your expectations just a bit higher.

I was one of those girls who squealed every time they saw a TV spot, or watched the trailer on YouTube a million times. I bawled my eyes out when I read the book- both times I read it. Last night, I went to see the movie knowing full well that it wasn't going to live up to the book. Unfortunately, I was right.

What made 'Dear John' different from all the other love stories we've read and seen was taken away in the movie. I don't know how I would have understood what was going on in the movie if I hadn't read the book. Scenes were rushed (especially the two weeks where the two main characters fall in love), and characters weren't well developed at all. Heck, one of the main characters barely resembles (both appearance- and personality-wise) the character in the book. *cough*Savannah Lynn Curtis*cough*.

That said, there were a couple of scenes where the dialogue was sweet and funny. I also enjoyed the music, but that may be because I'm a huge fan of acoustic. Also, the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Not to mention Channing Tatum's body (pretty much the only thing worth my money).

As far as acting goes, Channing Tatum was the stronger one in this film. While I'm still personally neutral about my opinion on Amanda Seyfried, I found she's done better. She may be better off with comedy or musicals. And Richard Jenkins was lovable, as always.

If you've read the book, don't expect anything similar to it. I can't point out a single scene that even resembled that of the book. Part II of the book, especially, was almost non-existent. You will definitely be able to pick out the noticeable differences between the book and the film. Hopefully, you won't be TOO disappointed.

But like I said, you're more likely to enjoy the film if you haven't read the book.