Anatomy of a Nicholas Sparks Movie

A.O. Scott's review "The Lucky One" -- the latest flick based on a Nicholas Sparks novel -- is pretty hilarious:

So yes, someone dies. Usually more than one person, and there is also usually a serious illness. The setting is the coastal South — typically the Carolinas, this time Louisiana — a land of lazy waters, busy dialect coaches and very few nonwhite faces. A young man and a young woman will fall in love, but there will be complications: a rival with a superior pedigree, a secret, bad weather. Desperate yearning will erupt into urgent kissing, ideally in heavy rain (or, in this case, an outdoor shower, under which the smoochers stand fully clothed).

All of this will be conducted in an atmosphere of intense spirituality carefully scrubbed of overt reference to any particular religion. The story, while thick with grief, emphasizes redemption, and the idea of an inscrutable but ultimately benevolent destiny comes up frequently in the characters’ conversations. The sun breaks through the clouds, you smile through your tears, and your cynicism — even the tiny voice in your head crying out, “Wait, none of this makes any sense!” — is silenced by sweet music (Mark Isham’s in “The Lucky One”) and swelling sentiment.

Keep reading HERE.