(Thank you, but I think I‘ll stick to “Nights in Oahu“…)
CAST: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, James Franco, Viola Davis, Mae Whitman, Christopher Meloni, Scott Glenn.
DIRECTOR: George C. Wolfe
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and sub-BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY antics straight ahead…
IT’S LIKE THIS: Hot mega-prick surgeon Dr. Paul Flanner (Richard Gere) is in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for two reasons: (1) visit the husband (Scott Glenn) of a patient who died under his care; and (2) prepare for a trip to South America to visit his equally hot but much less prick-like doctor son (James Franco). Paul books a room for the weekend in some inn by the sea run by babe Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane). Adrienne’s got issues of her own - specifically, whether or not she should divorce her cheating scum of a husband (Christopher Meloni). Given that he’s played by the equally babe-like Meloni, I think I’d be willing to forgive a few indiscretions on his part if I were Adrienne. Come on, have you seen that man’s pecs? Anyway, Paul and Adrienne get to know each other over the course of two days - and realize they are soulmates. Wow. That was fast. Or maybe Paul and Adrienne are just dimwits.
THE DUDE (OR DUDETTE) MOST LIKELY TO SAVE THE DAY: Nobody. This is pretty much the Paul-and-Adrienne-Show, and they’re both so love-whipped they barely notice that big-ass hurricane bearing down on them.
EYE CANDY MOST LIKELY TO FIRE UP A WOODY: Gere and Lane for those who like “classy“, and Franco and Meloni for those who like “dirty“. Guess who I’m going with. Pass the whipped cream and edible body oil…
MOST INTENTIONALLY DRAMATIC SCENE: Paul and Adrienne racing around the inn to secure the windows and doors against the oncoming hurricane. Hey, dipshits, maybe if you two weren’t so busy ogling each other, you would’ve noticed those gale force winds slamming in from the sea much sooner… just a thought.
MOST UNINTENTIONALLY DRAMATIC SCENE: Paul and Adrienne emptying out the inn’s cupboards by tossing cans of Spam into the garbage. How… dare… they. Spam is a food group where I’m from. Sacrilege! Sacrilege, I tell you!
HOTTEST SCENE: That scene where Paul says to Adrienne: “I want you to know… any man is a fool, if he doesn’t know how lucky he is to have you.” Hmmmm… Wait a minute… this sounds familiar. Hmmmmm. Did Chris Evans’ twin actually base his proposal to me on this scene? Well, it worked. You sneaky bastard…
INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: Will Paul and Adrienne cement their weekend romance with a true relationship? Or will they call it what it is and go back to being miserable in their separate lives? How will Paul’s son feel about his dad’s romance? What about Adrienne’s husband and kids? Are they forcing a weekend fling into something it wasn’t meant to be? Or is this truly, as Adrienne tells her daughter, “a love that makes you feel as if anything is possible?” Do Paul and Adrienne have a happy ending in store for them? Or do they seriously need to get their fucking heads out of the clouds? And most importantly, who should I complain to about all the Spam-abuse this movie perpetrates? Who, goddamit?!
WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH “NIGHTS IN RODANTHE”: If you like author Nicholas Sparks’s novels, one of which forms the basis of this film. And if you like Richard Gere and Diane Lane - together or separately…
WHY YOU MAY NOT ENJOY “NIGHTS IN RODANTHE”: If you loathe Nicholas Sparks particularly saccharine brand of “literature” - and the movies they spawned. If so, even an iron-strength loyalty to either Gere, Lane, or Franco may not be enough to protect you from the sugar shock this film may slam you with.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: The trailer for NIGHTS IN RODANTHE is one of the best out there: compelling, enticing, irresistible, with a strong sense of romance and soulfulness. Whoever cut this trailer together did it in such a slick and effective way, and made seriously judicious use of Gavin Rossdale’s haunting ballad “Love Remains The Same”. This trailer made such an impression on me that a friend whom we will call “Lee Remick” thoughtfully burned it to CD and gave it to me one year as a birthday present. It was one of my best birthday presents ever. That’s how much I liked the trailer.
However, as we all know, the annals of cinema history are filled with movies with previews that gripped audiences and put them in an electric state of anticipation - only to end up disappointing, mildly to severely, upon release. Some examples are: SLIVER, BASIC INSTINCT 2, THE HAUNTING, WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER?, PREDATORS, KILLERS, and MY LIFE IN RUINS, just to name a few. Does NIGHTS IN RODANTHE join their unfortunate ranks?
The answer, put simply, is “yes.” Perhaps I should’ve known that with a trailer so near-perfect, and with the high degree of anticipation it planted in me for the actual movie, there was only one way to go but down. I suppose it’s a testament to the canny skills of the trailer company which assembled NIGHTS IN RODANTHE’s trailer that they created such a rich and inviting preview for a film that is so thoroughly average and lackluster. Perhaps it’s also a testament to the power of Gavin Rossdale’s beautiful song, “Love Remains The Same” that it makes us think the movie we’re about to see has genuine spirit of romance.
Whatever the reason for the huge disparity between NIGHTS IN RODANTHE’s trailer and the actual film, the fact remains it has a strong and timeless idea at its core: two lost souls, each at a personal crossroads, meet and fall unexpectedly in love - and must decide if they have a future together. This formula is the basis of some vibrant cinema classics and near-classics: THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, LOST IN TRANSLATION, BEFORE SUNRISE, BEFORE SUNSET, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, LAST CHANCE HARVEY, and the brand new LIKE CRAZY. What do these films have in common that NIGHTS IN RODANTHE sorely lacks?
Again, put simply: in all those movies, we could understand why the leads were in love. We could understand why their worlds were turned upside down and the turmoil it caused them. In NIGHTS IN RODANTHE, we don’t get why Adrienne Willis and Paul Flanner are supposed to be crazy about each other, or why they fall for each other so hard in so short a time. In the classics mentioned before, we accepted that the leads would be so head over heels for one another after such a brief period. In this film, it’s just not believable.
Technically, Diane Lane and Richard Gere’s performances are fine. After THE COTTON CLUB (1984) and UNFAITHFUL (2002), this is their third pairing. It shows in their comfortable rapport with each other. Maybe even too comfortable, because their chemistry here isn’t so much sensual or romantic as it is warm and friendly. Also, their characters are just not that interesting, despite their elaborate backstories.
Adrienne, while somewhat sweet, is just not memorable or alluring enough to make us believe that she could melt the chilly, standoffish Paul so quickly. At the same time, despite the script’s flourishes, we don’t get a sense of the fire and passion underneath Paul’s cool-bordering-on-cold exterior to understand why Adrienne would even bother trying to melt him.
The result? A tepid romance that makes you care very little as to how everything will turn out. So much so that when Paul says that line to Adrienne which played great in the trailer (“any man is a fool if he doesn’t know how lucky he is to have you”), we don’t get why he feels like that about her. By the same token, when Adrienne tells her rebellious daughter played by Mae Whitman that “there is a love that makes you feel like anything is possible - I want you to know that you can have that” (another line that played great in the trailer), we don’t understand what the basis of that is.
Which is just as well, since NIGHTS IN RODANTHE has one of the more nonsensical endings out there right now. Just as with author Nicholas Sparks’ previous and better weeper-turned-movie MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE, this film has an ending that is supposed to be powerful, profound, and heartbreaking. Instead, because its romantic foundation is so weak, the climax (and denouement) is simply, well, stupid. Had Paul and Adrienne been written more effectively (and had Gere and Lane had a more combustible chemistry), the ending might have been devastating and heartbreaking.
The supporting cast provides able support. James Franco, Christopher Meloni, Viola Davis, Scott Glenn, and Whitman are all solid. But, in the end, this movie is Gere and Lane’s. And as much as I adore them, they’re too comfortable with one another, and their characters so flat, that the emotional center of this film remains hollow - and it hampers the film considerably, making it a merely average affair. Pun intended.
Well, at least I will always have that trailer to dazzle me. An even better birthday gift would’ve been for the NIGHTS IN RODANTHE to have actually turned out to be a good film.
NIGHTS IN RODANTHE Trailer - ****1/2 out of *****
NIGHTS IN RODANTHE Movie - **1/2 out of *****
