Opinion: Dear John

I won't lie, this movie greatly disappointed me. I was looking forward to watching it as it seemed promising - a tragic love story of a young soldier and an even younger conservative college student who fall head over heels for one another by accident. They decide to keep in touch by writing letters to each other while John is serving overseas. Unfortunately, as some of the letters, the plot got lost in the mail and the film ended up being rather shallow. I would have given it a lower ranking, but only because of one part that made me tear up, I award it a measly 3/10 stars.


What I really liked about the movie was the metaphor of coins. It was fitted perfectly within certain scenes and worked well with both the father and the military.
Now, let's move onto bashing the movie. First and foremost, the actors. Channing Tatum made the best use of his two facial expressions while Amanda Seyfried widened her eyes to the size of saucer plates. The pair couldn't be sold off as a star-crossed couple because they were so strikingly different - a quiet, reserved man, and an obnoxious rich girl. The story would have been a lot more heartbreaking if there was a real connection between the two. The acting was fairly good, but the movie would have jerked at the right heartstrings if the leading actors were picked wiser. Also, there is no way the kind of deep connection they were trying to sell us could have happened in two weeks. It takes months to really get to know a person's thoughts, feelings, and mind, and then maybe love them.
The plot jumped all over the place, from the couple, to the father, to the autistic child, to the military.. There was no real character development, which contributed to the shallowness of the movie.
Next, the tragedies. This next paragraph contains spoilers, so read at your own caution. The father's sudden illness was heartbreaking and during his last meeting with his son, tears were streaming down my face. The pain was real, contrary to the other supposedly terrible events that unfolded throughout the story. There was genuine love between them, unlike the star-crossed pair.
Long story short, Dear John is like a bad soap opera. It prettifies heartache and hardship to the point where it barely has any meaning at all. Perfect for teenage girls who don't know what either of those words mean.