Nights in Rodanthe (DVD)

Let me just start by saying that I’m not the biggest fan of romantic dramas. This is not for some macho reason, but more for the fact that so many of them follow a specific predictable formula. More often than not I can walk into one of those movies and within the first 5 minutes, I can predict that a character will die, which character it will be, and how it will play out. Many times I have tried to give these movies the benefit of the doubt, only to be burned by the same repetitive formula.  Reluctantly, I rented this movie on my wife’s request and I’m happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised.

Nights in Rodanthe is the story of two damaged human beings who are thrown together by fate. Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane) is a mother of two who has been separated from her husband due to his infidelity. Hurt and confused, she agrees to help her friend by taking her place as the inn keeper for the weekend at a beautiful beachfront resort in Rodanthe, North Carolina.   However, vacation season is long over but a single guest has reserved the resort at double the normal rate so naturally, they accommodate him. The guest happens to be Dr. Paul Flanner (Richard Gere), who has recently lost a patient on the operating table during a standard procedure and is undergoing a tragedy of his own. As events unfold, we learn that Dr. Paul is there for other reasons than a simple vacation. Over the course of the weekend, the two get to know one another and romance blooms between them.

There are other aspects of the plot that I won’t get into for spoilers sake, but the story is very well written. Even more impressive are the performances given by Gere and Lane. From their first introduction, the feeling of chemistry is immediately obvious.  The two actors do a great job of playing off of one an others emotions while conveying intense emotions of their own, covering everything from blissful joy to hopeless despair. Even more impressive is that for the majority of the movie, it is only these two characters and yet they carry the film almost effortlessly.  I was really impressed by Diane Lane’s performance especially, as she does a good job of getting the viewer to feel what she is feeling.  While Gere is also incredible, I felt that Lane had the most emotional lifting to do throughout the course of the movie, which she handled superbly.

This is an excellent movie that really caught me by surprise. Even though it wasn’t the type of film that I normally enjoy, this movie had me entertained from beginning to end. The great script and excellent acting do a good job of exploring human emotion at its core. Even the most hardcore movie goers will be hard pressed not to feel their emotions touched by this movie. I highly recommend this for anyone looking for a superb movie about life, love, and loss.