The Vow

Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams play a couple who’s love and relationship is tested to the limits when one of them loses their memory in a car accident.

Channing Tatum and
Rachel McAdams play a couple who’s love and relationship is tested to the
limits when one of them loses their memory in a car accident.

Leo (Tatum) and Paige (McAdams) are a couple very much in
love until one day, a car accident renders Paige unconscious. When she wakes days later she cannot
remember Leo and reverts to memories she had five years previously. Her parents whom she has not spoken
with in years and a former fiancé come back in to her life and Leo must do all he
can to win back the love of his wife.

After Dear John,
Tatum has proven that he has the ability to slip in to the soft, romantic hunk
role with ease. And yes girls
there is a very brief shot of his naked tushy, which you could see a lot more
of in this year’s male stripper movie Magic
Mike with Tatum in the title role.
McAdams of course is an old hand at this genre, starring as the main
love interest in romantic hits like The
Notebook, The Time Traveller’s Wife
and Midnight in Paris, but for very
good reason. She shines in the
role of Paige, with a cutesy, thoroughly likeable persona that cannot be
rivalled. There is great chemistry
between Tatum and McAdams and the result is a sweet, heart-warming on-screen
relationship that really keeps you engaged. Disappointingly, the same cannot be said for stars Sam Neill and Jessica Lange as Paige’s rich, controlling parents. Neither of them give their usual suave,
stand-out performance, instead disappearing in to the background. Similarly, Scott Speedman of Underworld
fame is relatively dull and underwhelming as ex-fiancé Jeremy.

The Vow comes from the writers behind He’s Just Not That Into You and Valentine’s Day and although it has its overly slushy moments, it
does not drench itself in them. With
the film centring round such an unlikely situation, it is quite a sweet notion
that it was actually inspired by true events. As a result, you look for aspects of real life and real
relationships that you can identify with.
However, most of the scenarios in the film are incredibly
unbelievable. For example, this is
a couple who have been together for five years, yet have never argued,
endlessly lost in the honeymoon phase.
We discover that Paige has not spoken to her parents in years so we
await the uncovering of dreadful truths, which actually turn out to be a bit
ridiculous. At times the plot does
not always flow seamlessly. It
begins with a voiceover by Tatum which he picks up at the end, but allowing the
middle of the film to rely on the action alone does not then work as well and
it lacks intensity. There are also
several small comedy moments and if a handful more of
these had been added it would really have strengthened the film.

There are plenty of extras on the DVD which include
director’s commentary, deleted scenes and a gag reel. The Blu-Ray also has the addition of some interesting featurettes,
including a look at the true story that inspired the film. This is a nice chick flick about love
and new beginnings. On the surface
it seems as though it would be a great watch for couples, but really it would
work best as a girly night movie.