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Sweet, Maybe Too Sweet, Old-Fashioned Love Romance Now the first book by Nicholas Sparks is made a film. That's no surprise after his original books 'Message in a Bottle' and 'A Walk to Remember' have been recently turned into films. The point is, his books are not for people with cynical outlook of life, or those who believe that any good film must contain a bad guy or two. You should know this is an unabashed tearjerker. Yes, in 'The Notebook' love will triumph, but I didn't find that a bad thing. A case of a simple story well told, 'The Notebook' introduces us to the unnamed two aged couple played by Gena Rowlands and James Garner. Garner is reading a story from a small notebook he holds dear like a day planner, and Rowlands is listening to the story very eagerly. And it's a love story. The story-within-story turns out the real story for us, which unfolds like old-fashioned love romance. Rich Southern lady, Allie ('Rachel McAdams) who is going to women's college in New York after summer, comes to Seabrook, a small rural town in North Carolina, where she spends her peaceful holidays. There she meets a lumberyard worker Noah (Ryan Gosling). They fell for love each other, if not at first sight for Allie. But Allie's parents are not happy about that at all. And when Joan Allen appears as Aliie's uptight mom, we know what will happen to the teens in love. For her this likable boy he is just a "trash" which means only one thing to Allie: no future. The time is set in 1940. So there is only one thing that love-sick Noah can do. Going to war. You can spot all too familiar things in the young couples' story, soaked in sugery nostalgia. However, for all its shortcomings and manipulative tones, 'The Notebook' remains forceful enough to make us cheer the young boy and girl, and wish them to win, probably because of the assured director's hand or the universal theme of love story. Director Nick Cassavetes does trust in this simple story, and shows his belief in his straightforward approach to the descriptions of Noah and Allie's fate. The film ends, I think, too neatly, and some say, perhaps rightly, that the Alzheimer Disease is not exactly what the film depicts. But the beautiful images and strong performances are worth giving a try, if you're not a hardened romance hater (if there should be any).