Movie Review: 'The Vow' mostly in vain
Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/17/2012 - 4:14pm
The film"The Vow," currently on view at the Fandango Galaxy theater in Carson City, is a good bad film. The bad is the sweetness-loaded script and the apparently rock-dumb male lead, Channing Tatum, as Leo Collins. The good is co-star Rachel McAdams as Paige Collins. This is billed as a romantic comedy, ideal as a "date" outing. Maybe, but ...
Movie opens with a brief scene of now then goes back to five years earlier when Paige and Leo exchanged vows in a yuppie-like wedding. Thus, "The Vows."
Back in current time, the two are happily riding when a truck comes up from behind and rams them into a pole or tree. Paige goes through the windshield in a burst of glass; Leo is unhurt.
Paige is unconscious in a hospital bed but regains awareness but with a big blank around the past; she thinks Leo is her doctor. Her parents (Sam Neill as Bill and Jessica Lange a Rita) want to take her home but Leo insists she's his wife and takes her to his very nice Chicago apartment.
He's crude, appears in the morning after sleeping on the sofa nude, but isn't upset while she naturally is. He attempts to woo her but is clumsy at best. They eventually make out on the kitchen floor but Paige still is in limbo land.
He crudely attempts to bring her up to date, taking her to her studio where she worked as an artist, sculpting mostly. And to the restaurant where he proposed to her and where baffling group of old friends greet and bewilder her.
Paige's parents eve eventually lure her home so that she can take part in her sister's wedding. She goes and Leo is despondent, an out-of-place guest at the wedding reception where Bill attempts to bribe him into a divorce, which he later agrees to.
Then the big secret comes out, that Bill isn't the straight arrow he pretends to be and that his wife stands up for him. Sort of romantic.
Happy ending? Of course, this is a romantic, commercial film. And if love is your things of the moment there might be some fun in it for you.
If you go, catch the twinkle in McAdam's eyes, her wide, expressive mouth saying much silently, her deft moments of comedy. As noted, she's the good. Tatum is bad, big and stalwart and hunky but not much of an actor. Neill is fine in an unsympathetic role as is Lange. And direction by Michael Sucsy is unobtrusive. Script is weak at best. The film is claimed to be "inspired" by actual events. Huh?
Why haven't I seen McAdams before?
--- Sam Bauman
Cast
• Channing Tatum as Leo Collins
• Rachel McAdams as Paige Collins
• Scott Speedman as Jeremy
• Tatiana Maslany as Lily
• Sam Neill as Bill
• Jessica Lange as Rita
• Wendy Crewson as Dr. Fishman
• Daniel Tosh as Pootie Tang
• Lucas Bryant as Kyle
• Dillon Casey as Ryan
• Rachel Skarsten as Rose
• Kristina Pesic as Lizbet
• Brittney Irvin as Lena
• Jeananne Goossen as Sonia
• Jessica McNamee as Gwen
• Kim Roberts as Barbara
• Directed by Michael Sucsy
• Produced by Gary Barber
• Roger Birnbaum
• Susan Cooper
• J. Miles Dale
• Jonathan Glickman
• Austin Hearst
• Paul Taublieb
• Written by Abby Kohn
• Marc Silverstein
• Michael Sucsy
Cinematography Rogier Stoffers
Editing by Melissa Kent, Nancy Richardson
Running time 104 minutes, rated PG13
