Review No.43: The Vow

Sometimes I do wonder what I've put myself in for watching some of the films on this list and a case in point is The Vow. Apparently based on real-life events it evokes memories of previous long-winded romantic dramas The Notebook and Dear John so it's not surprising that the former's female lead Rachel McAdams stars alongside the latter's male lead Channing Tatum in this film. They play respectively as Paige and Leo a horribly Bohemian New York couple who get into a car crash on a snowy night and when she wakes up she has no recollection of him. Instead she still thinks she lives the good life on the posh side of her town with her horribly controlling father Sam Neill and her Stepford Wife of a mother Jessica Lange she also believes she engaged to the sleazy Scott Speedman. It is then up to Leo to make Paige fall in love with him all over again and remember how she dropped out of law school to concentrate on being a sculptor and I'm sure some of the works that Paige produces throughout this film are an insult to those who actually do this thing professionally. Leo also has a 'believable' job as he owns a recording studio apparently because he loves the sound of an album that has been recorded the right way and he gives a speech to this effect during the film. The film then essentially sees Paige trapped between the stifling life with the people she remembers or a carefree existence with a husband she doesn't know.

To be honest if I was her I just would've run away as I would want to forget all of the awful people in this film. Firstly there are the kooky, quirky, city folks who all live in some sort of commune where they break into art galleries to get married and hang out at trendy cafes which I'm sure don't exist in the real world. They also all have very well paid jobs despite not being particularly talented or committed to what they want to do. Paige's family on the other hand are an odd bunch who are capitalising on the fact that she has had a head injury to convince her to come back to the home that she remembers. Sam Neil has the unenviable task of playing a complete slimeball who blackmails his way through life and has even had an affair with his daughter's friend a fact she can't remember and obviously one he's not going to remind her of. The only particularly likeable character in this is Leo however Channing Tatum is such a lousy actor that he seemingly only got the part to get his top off as many times as humanly possible and appeal to a certain market of hormonal teenage girls. McAdams meanwhile seems to be taking a step back in her career as I feel that she has progressed to a point where she didn't have to star in drivel like this but perhaps she needed the cash. The Vow looks pretty enough but that's where it ends and the only people involved who got a happy ending seem to be the couple who this film was based on who now have two children, so good for them but did they really have to make a film about them? After watching this I'm sure you'll want to suffer a similar injury to Paige and forget all about this terrible movie.

Verdict: Not as bad as Jack and Jill but still terrible The Vow gets a very generous 2.5/10