Dear John

The film version of Nicholas Sparks's The Notebook was a ruthlessly effective romantic weepy. This Sparks adaptation is more ruthless but far less effective, shamelessly piggy-backing on 9/11, autism, cancer and war. It's also pretty dull. John (Tatum) is a sullen Green Beret who falls for Savannah (Seyfried) after realising she is the nicest girl ever and dreams of opening a horse riding school for autistic kids, aaaah! Time moves on as he signs on for another tour of duty post-9/11. Their romance fizzles out in their letters to each other, and the plot gets lost in the post.