Dear John

The pieces don’t quite fit together in the latest romantic movie based on a Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) novel. Channing Tatum plays John, an Army soldier on leave and living with his troubled dad (Richard Jenkins). He meets and falls in love with Savannah (Amanda Seyfried), which results in two really good-looking people onscreen with little to do. Tatum is a little more tolerable than usual this time out, while the normally reliable Seyfried seems a little out of place as the saintly Savannah. The movie is designed to jerk tears out of you, but this ain’t no Notebook. In the end, it doesn’t come together and work on any levels other than looking pretty. It was directed by Lasse Hallström, who has been in a major slump since 2000’s Chocolat. The man knows where to put the camera and stage a shot, but he’s consistently blowing it with the content.