What happens when you put two gorgeous actors together in a once-in-a-lifetime love story that tugs at the heart strings? A sold out opening weekend. The Vow brought in $41.7 million over the weekend, with $11.6 million on Valentine’s Day alone. This romantic hit stars Dear John‘s Channing Tatum and The Notebook‘s Rachel McAdams. The Vow is based on the true story of Kim and Krickett Carpenter, who met and fell in love over a long-distance phone call in 1992, and were married a short time later. Just ten weeks into their marriage, the couple survived a terrible car wreck that left Krickitt in a coma with severe head trauma. Upon waking, Krickitt experienced amnesia and was essentially married to a stranger, forgetting the last eighteen months of her life.
If the leading actors were anyone other than Rachel McAdams or Channing Tatum, the movie would–without a doubt–not be the success it was. Realy, people paid to see the once-in-a-lifetime love of Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. With their well-known previous romantic performances (Dear John and The Notebook), viewers were very eager to see how this film would measure up to their expectations.
The whole essence of the film was Leo (Tatum) trying to make his wife Paige (McAdams) fall back in love with him. Paige’s family and ex-fiancé, Jeremy, complicate things and the audience is left uncertain whether Paige will fall back in love with Leo.
The story line is pretty slow, but the audience is taken on an emotional rollercoaster ride full of ups and downs. An unnecessary voiceover from Leo (Tatum) had me wondering what it would be like to see the story from Paige’s point of view–waking up in the hospital to a world she didn’t know, and trying to put her unknown life completely back together from scratch.
All in all, The Vow wasn’t your typical love story, but it was a love story all the same. Its strategically placed opening weekend sky-rocketed the film’s box office sales and attracted millions of women and girls (and their unfortunate spouses) wishing for Channing Tatum to show that kind of love and devotion to them. While there were attempts to stray from the usually boring plot line of other romantic, sappy love stories such as a secret that is unexpectedly revealed at the end, and the tug-of-war between Leo and Paige’s family, the Vow is undoubtedly a chick-flick. I would recommend this movie to any girl or woman age thirteen and up, and would advise most guys to steer clear of it unless you would like to get a glimpse of Channing Tatum’s bare-naked bottom.
An audience member in my theater commented, “It was better than Dear John, but not even close to The Notebook.” While the movie was a nice deviation from your typical Hollywood love story, the extremely heart-warming aspect of this film is the fact that it is based on a true story. To think that a couple actually went through these hardships and managed to fall in love again is truly amazing.