Posted in: by Robert Horton, Contributors, Film Reviews

Film Review: ‘The Best of Me’

Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden

Even by the standards of The Notebook author Nicholas Sparks, his 2011 novel The Best of Me employs an extremely simple setup. Twenty-one years after they last saw each other, high-school sweethearts Amanda and Dawson meet again, and an old glow is rekindled. Perhaps because of the simplicity and universality of this situation, Sparks has added a cornucopia of insane plot developments: an accidental death, an organ transplant, surprise instructions in a will, and a family of drug-baking hillbillies who make the Deliverance crew look unassuming.

Along with the deep-fried melodrama, there’s a dicey storytelling thing going.

Continue reading at Seattle Weekly