Sunday, February 12, 2012

THE VOW

Review: The Vow
2.5 stars (out of 5)
By R. Kurt Osenlund


It's too bad every complacent couple can't have one spouse lose all memory of the other. As evidenced by The Vow, being forced into a clean-slate courtship is a great way to cure mid-marriage malaise. The zealous effort to woo is restored. What was tired is fresh again. Indeed, it makes the simple renewal of vows look like the work of lazy slugs. Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams) aren't old enough to have fully nestled into married life, but Leo is nevertheless compelled to dust off his game when Paige suffers head trauma from a car crash and can't recall that the tall drink of whey protein at her bedside is the same one who's been between her sheets. Based on the tale of a real-life couple who stalwartly gave amnesia the wedding-banded finger, this Valentine's Day date magnet is a proud cheerleader of love conquering all. It might have been better if the script, the sets, or just about anything else in its visual palette had the bottled-lighting ease of Tatum and McAdams's quiet chemistry. This is a movie whose true romance has virtually nothing to do with the movie itself.

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