Since The Vow is obviously trying to bank on the Valentine’s Day gimmick – and yes, it is a gimmick – yours truly will play along and compare the 104 romantic-drama to what one may hear during the dating phase of a relationship: You know what, let’s just be friends.
That translates here to: I’m not mad at you Vow, but let’s just say you really aren’t doing anything to keep me fully invested in this. It’s not you, it’s me.
Actually, it is you. But not all of you. Rachel McAdams does a decent job as a young woman who loses her memory from the last five years; which really puts a damper on Channing Tatum, who she met and married during that window of time. Having no recollection of her lifestyle with the artsy Tatum, the girl resorts back to her well-off parents, Sam Neil and Jessica Lange, in their mansion outside of Chicago. Though she is willing to give some sort of effort to remember her life with Tatum, the sense of familiarity within her old life, which clearly is/was different than the one she can’t recall, makes the present situation torturous for her out-of-place husband. For the desperate guy is doing anything he can to help her remember what they had, while fighting off her parents and friends that urge her to let him go.
This is one of those films where the idea, although slightly recycled, is catchy; but that’s where it ends. Execution of this heart-breaking conundrum is hampered by a few elements. First being, it’s tough to buy the chemistry between Tatum and McAdams. His take on his rocker-ish character is almost too laidback given the circumstances of the story. At another point, there is a subplot which has one of McAdams’ ex-flames, Scott Speedman, teasing that this flick may turn into 2000’s Here on Earth type scenario; where two guys from completely different walks of life do battle to win McAdams’ forgetful heart. Now that could have been compelling. Then there’s the on-going “my daughter will not be married to the likes of you” angle with Sam Neil leading the charge. Generic, but doable. But alas, both angles are just glossed over and resolved in a lazy manner.
So all you have left is the dialogue and actions between the two leads. And as already mentioned they just didn’t fit well together on screen. In their defense though, they were not given a whole lot to work with either. Hence, the lack of development with what could have been more than just a catchy concept for a romantic film. Instead, it’s just haphazard segments that make-up this script, which makes it near-impossible to find, and feel, the groove of this story.
Overall, The Vow has the right intentions but can’t live up to the words it speaks (Channing Tatum’s running narrative about “moments of impact”). Rachel McAdams does well enough here to the point that you don’t completely write this off, yet everyone else left a lackluster impression – much like the flick’s ending - in their scant performances.
The Vow is rated PG-13 and opens in the Tampa Bay market on Friday.
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