In honor of Valentine’s Day and the weekend coming up, this week I decided to spend my time and energy on a movie that I am sure many couples and lonely girls will be watching, The Notebook. I myself will be forcing my group of male college friends to watch The Notebook for their first time this Valentine’s Day. One of my favorite movies to be sure, The Notebook may be the most highly watched movie among females. One of the many movie adaptations of a Nicholas Sparks book, The Notebook as a book was decently written, but the movie blew the book out of the water. Rarely does a movie surpass the book, but for me the movie is out of this world. For critic reviews of The Notebook, click here.

The Notebook is a story within a story, with flashbacks to Allie and Noah, but a present story of Duke (an old man) and an woman (Miss Allie). Duke, a sweet old man, reads to Miss Allie (a severe dementia patient) from a notebook which he carries with him, the story of Noah and Allie. The Notebook follows the flashback love story of two young adults, Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) and Noah Calhoun (the one and only, Ryan Gosling). Noah, a hardworking country boy, and Allie, a wealthy girl from the city, meet while Allie is on summer vacation in Noah’s hometown in Seabrook, North Carolina. Long story short, Noah meets Allie at a carnival, and they eventually fall deeply in love. Fighting and making up was their style of loving, but they had a summer romance that burned more brightly than any other love. However, when the leaves changed in the fall and Allie was forced to go back home to school, the odds did not stack up in their favor. A poor boy without a penny to his name, Noah had nothing to offer Allie but his love.

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While this would have been more than enough for Allie, her mother had very different plans for her life. When Allie went back to school, after having a heated fight with Noah, he wrote Allie. Her wrote her every single day for a year, 365 letters. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is. When he received no response, he reluctantly decided to move on with his life, and sent her a final letter of his love.

Noah and his best friend Fin move away from Seabrook. Three years later, Noah and Fin join the U.S. Army during WWII, while Allie becomes an army nurse. Noah returns safely home to his father in Seabrook, but Fin was not so lucky. Allie met an injured soldier, Lon Hammond, during her time as a nurse, and after the war was over he found her, asking for the date she promised him.

From here, the movie follows Noah as he buys the old abandoned torn-up mansion on the lake, putting all his efforts into restoring the old place, just as Allie had wanted it all those years ago. Meanwhile, Allie and Lon began dating, much to the agreement of her parents, for the Hammond’s were filthy southern rich. Lon proposes to Allie, and Allie wholeheartedly accepts (but in the back of her mind, she can’t help but think of Noah in the moment).

Preparations for the big wedding ensue, but when Allie sees a picture of Noah in the paper with the completed white house with blue shutters, she faints with disbelief. The man built her her dream house, after all those years. Allie, knowing that she owed it to herself to see Noah, took a trip to Seabrook. An awkward followed by steamy weekend ensue, followed by tears and confusion. Noah wanted to know why she never wrote him back, and Allie wanted to know why he never wrote her. HOLD THE PHONE. “I wrote you. I wrote you everyday for a year.” Unbeknowst to the two, Allie’s mother had intercepted every single one of Noah’s letters, never delivering them to their intended owner. WHAT A WITCH.

The flashback ends with Allie needing to make a decision. To honor her word and marry Lon, or follow her heart and be with Noah. From here, the movie cuts back to Duke and the old woman in the nursing home, while the old woman persistently asks which man Allie chose.

Until Miss Allie realizes that she is the same Allie from the book, and that Duke is actually Noah. WHAT? Mind blowing I know. The only catch is, since Allie has dementia, she remembers only for a couple minutes at most and then relapses. How much more depressing can this really get? So while the Notebook is a spectacular movie about young summer love, it is about so much more than that. Noah and Allie’s love was truly timeless, and not even old age could keep them from loving each other until their last breaths.

Set in the 1940’s, the film is a time period full of riding bicycles, going to carnivals, seeing black and white movies in the theater, and the setting of the film is one of my favorite aspects. Something about the simpleness of the 40’s, everything just seems so peaceful, classy, happy, and free. From the style of the music, the dancing, and the clothing, everything about The Notebook screams classy, passionate, fun, and deeply romantic all at the same time.

A complete tear-jerker, I would recommend this movie to every single person. If you have yet to see this movie, I apologize for possibly spoiling the plot line, but there is so much more to this movie then meets the eye. If you fall into the category of a male, I would encourage you to just give it a try. You might hate it, but you just might really enjoy it.