The Vow (2012)

The Vow definitely tugs at your heartstrings, but it also tugs at your eye-rolling strings. There are a number of cliches and sappy moments that are sure to annoy some viewers. Nevertheless, Rachel McAdams does a great job, as usual, and Channing Tatum is surprisingly emotive. The movie kind of falls apart near the end, but The Vow is a harmless chick flick and the story it's based on is quite interesting.

Inspired by the true story of real-life couple Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, 'The Vow' is a cute film, about love & belief. And even the performances, are good!'The Vow' Synopsis: A car accident puts Paige in a coma, and when she wakes up with severe memory loss, her husband Leo works to win her heart again.'The Vow' is all about love & in believing that true-love will always triumph over obstacles. I like how Leo, the protagonist, tries to win back Paige's heart, even after she literally forgets him. There is a certain warmth in their journey, that will leave you smiling, if nothing else.Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein, and Jason Katims's Screenplay is nice, but the sub-plot involving Paige's parents, doesn't work & needed to be trimmed. Michael Sucsy's Direction is satisfactory. Cinematography is passable. Editing is decent. Art & Costume Design are well-done.Performance-Wise: Rachel McAdams as Paige & Channing Tatum as Leo lead 'The Vow'. McAdams, an Oscar-Nominee, is nicely restrained in a rather difficult role, while Tatum is excellent as the husband waiting for his wife to love him back. Also, the leads share a warm on-screen chemistry throughout. Of the supporting cast, Veterans Jessica Lange & Sam Neill are wasted as Paige's parents.On the whole, 'The Vow' is surely a good one-time watch.

Other than the facts that this almost newly-wed couple was in a serious car accident that nearly killed her and did take away her memory of the marriage, this story is nothing like the true story. There is one other similarity, but it is near the end and still not quite like the true story. I guess for Hollywood, you have to have villains, which reality had none of in this case. Personally, I think the differences make it a completely different story. However, the real life characters, according to their book, are not as disappointed. For the inaccuracies, I take away 4 stars. Make it more like the book and it is an extremely touching story. 8 stars. I always like Rachel McAdams (except maybe Mean Girls and you were supposed to hate her). In this movie, she was a woman you could root for, but she either didn't, or wasn't allowed to, play the wife's confusion strongly enough. (Maybe time compression was the factor in that.) Paige was also not as committed to the vow as in real life. Channing Tatum did a good job of maintaining Leo's integrity and faithfulness.

I cant believe that I sat for two hours through this dreadful bland script tripe premise and lacklustre performances. The only reason I watched it was for the promise of a shot at McCaddams butt in pink knickers as seen in the previews but even that was fleeting. This movie gives the viewer nothing to work with, you don't feel sad when they wont get back together (I secretly hoped they didn't just so it would be different)You don't feel happy when they do (sort of) get back together. You don't exactly hate the parents and well basically the whole movie is just a littler Meh! Glad it was on free-to-air because even putting up with the TV ads was paying too much!!