D
Watching movies based on Nicholas Sparks’ books is a lot like playing bingo.
Bingo is the same basic game every time you play, but the numbers that get called out change from game to game.
Similarly, Sparks’ movies follow a main plot of lovers fighting against the odds to be together, but with a twist.
Each movie features a quiet little town, kind strangers, upset families and awkward make-out scenes in the rain.
It’s the minor twists that get you.
“The Notebook” had Alzheimer’s Disease. “Dear John” had war. “Safe Haven” had a ghost, which is by far my favorite curveball.
It’s just a matter of which bingo squares get called for which twist gets wedged in between the lovers.
Sparks’ latest book-turned-movie “The Best of Me” is no different than those previous bingo games that are Sparks’ ?romance movies.
This time’s exciting twist was that the male lead Dawson (James Marsden) comes from a family of moonshiners. Of course, it was only natural that the female lead Amanda (Michelle Monaghan) comes from a wealthy, upper-class family that wanted nothing to do with him.
How original.
Dawson and Amanda’s two worlds collide as young Dawson (Luke Bracey) and young Amanda (Liana Liberato) fall in and out of love as 117 minutes of romantic drama ensues.
The plot is set up when an older Dawson miraculously survives an oil-rig explosion and determines he was destined for some higher purpose.
Coincidentally, he learns an old friend and father-figure, Tuck, (Gerald McRaney) has died, forcing Dawson to return to his hometown in Louisiana.
Even more coincidentally, Amanda was called there, too. That’s where the two high-school lovers reunite after being separated for 21 years thanks to a mysterious circumstance.
What happens next isn’t rocket science. And that’s why “The Best of Me” fails to impress.
It’s incredibly predictable. If you find yourself thinking you’ve figured out what will happen next, you’re probably right.
There are plenty of over-the-top, cliché love lines. My favorite was, “You want me to fall back in love with you? How do I do that ... if I never stopped?”
You aren’t supposed to laugh at those lines, but I did. And that completely killed the mood of the movie.
“The Best of Me” will do well, because all of Sparks’ movies do well. There’s a reason why two more (“The Longest Ride” and “The Choice”) are being made, and both of those will be box office hits, too.
But don’t go to “The Best of Me” expecting to get the best out of your money.
Save yourself the trouble and just re-watch any of Sparks’ previous films, because it’s the same story.
But then again, people still play bingo. So maybe Nicholas Sparks lovers will rejoice.
