Movie Review: "The Vow"

"The Vow": B-. This movie made its Twin Cities' debut a few months ago, and I finally caught it at the Hopkins Theater last night before it disappeared from the big screen. Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum play young Chicagoans, Paige and Leo, who make goo goo eyes at each other in a drivers' license application line. He catches up to her outside the building as she's getting into her car, and stutters and stammers his way into an offer to buy her a drink. She smiles her dimpled smile, and before we have shed a layer of clothing in the 85 degree theater, they are married. She is a former law student who dropped out to pursue her first love, art. He owns a small music recording studio. For four years life is good. They are deeply in love. Then tragedy strikes.

One winter's night their car gets rear-ended by a huge city truck. The impact sends Paige through the windshield. She wakes up in a hospital several days later, unable to recall anything from her short-term history, including her marriage to Leo, who she thinks is her doctor. Once she is released from the hospital, Leo patiently tries to get her into familiar surroundings, hoping that something will trigger her brain's ability to reconnect with him and their relationship. Meanwhile Paige's family, which had been absent from her life, reappears and intervenes by inviting her to return to their suburban home, disregarding their son-in-law's status as their daughter's husband. Another potential monkey wrench in the works is the reappearance of Jeremy, Paige's former fiancé and current Loop attorney. Paige remembers things from her distant past, like Jeremy and her high school chums. She just can't recognize Leo.

What follows in this one paragraph is something you might want to skip until after you've seen the movie, although it is not a typical plot spoiler. Sometimes while watching a newscast I'll notice something about the anchor, such as a constant blinking of the eyes, and for the remainder of the program I pay more attention to that idiosyncrasy than I do to the news content. A similar thing happened while watching "The Vow." It seemed to me, early on, that the characters frequently said "I'm sorry" to one another. Once I noticed this, I realized that they could barely utter three sentences in a row without that apology. It would make a great drinking game for the movie's viewers, but it is also distracting. The dialogue could have been a little better written.

There are a few other nits, including a very improbable surprise party which Leo throws for Paige on her first night home from her long hospital stay. Leo seems like a sharp guy, so it's hard to believe he could be so dumb as not to think that might be just a wee bit too much for an amnesia victim to process on her first day home. There is also a scene where he takes Paige to her art studio for the first time after she's returned home, and he cranks up a highly obnoxious metal song, thinking this will please her. All I can say is, "Please!" She does not seem like a metal head kind of girl, at least not at this point in her life.

"The Vow" is neither great nor bad, though not quite as good as what I had hoped. Tatum is highly credible in the role of a husband married to a girl who can't remember him. For much of the story, Leo's goal is to make Paige fall in love with him all over again. As for McAdams, I would pay to watch her reading her lines from cue cards. She is quite luddufly. When she comes into the kitchen wearing a Chicago Cubs sweater, it's almost enough to make me switch my National League allegiance from the Brewers to the Cubbies. The story picks up in the final act, especially when a secret is revealed about Paige's parents. The ending leaves a little bit to the viewers' imaginations, a story telling device which I support. Also in the plus column is the terrific soundtrack, including a super song for the final scene and closing credits called "Pictures Of You" by the Cure.