And NOW we know what Scott Speedman’s been up to! Maybe he had to make a choice between making this and “Underworld: Awakenings.” Good choice.
The film is based on a book of the same name written by Kim (the guy) and Krickitt (the gal) Carpenter and Dana Wilkerson, about Krickitt losing the memory of her life with husband Kim after a car accident. Having not read it, I don’t know how much of the facts made it into the movie past the obvious. Did Krickitt/Paige really come from a well-to-do family from which she was estranged? Did she really have an ex-fiancée (Speedman) to whom she thought she was still engaged, and did he really say those things to Kim/Leo at a wedding? Were her family’s dynamics really like the ones in the movie? And if not, how does her real-life dad feel about his depiction? Thankfully, their names were changed (can you see hulking Channing Tatum answering to the name Kim?), and moviegoers were spared the gag-inducing religious pall that hangs over the real people and their story.
“The Vow” has all the earmarks of a standard lost-love romance, but the real story and the “what would I do” question at the heart of it helps it overcome the cliché’ it could have been. Not quite the tearjerker I was expecting (and I’m a softie!), it still has its moments. Fully expecting everything to be alright in the end, the love story didn’t interest me as much as the peripheral ideas it introduces – what do you do when you wake up one day, look at your life, and find that isn’t what you thought it would be? How did I get here? What about my plans to do… whatever? Who are these people in my life now, and where are the ones who used to be here? Who am I, and what am I about, really?
Unexpected existential angst aside, “The Vow is also more funny than expected, although hardly a comedy. Unfortunately, the ending seems a bit rushed so the movie wouldn’t hit the 2 hour mark. Some of Paige’s (Rachel McAdams) recovery seems like it was left on the cutting room floor. No sooner does Leo (Tatum) take her to her sculpting studio where she fails to remember anything about her talent does she go back to law school and… doodles sculpture forms in her notebook. When and how the heck did THAT happen? Paige never recovers her memory, but she certainly falls back into the old life she doesn’t remember too quickly, and much of it without onscreen time or motivation. Luckily, the ending is positive without quite being wrapped up too neatly. That would’ve buried this otherwise decent adult love-story.
Overall Score for “The Vow” from Rich Bonaduce: B
“The Vow” is rated PG-13 for an accident scene, sexual content, partial nudity and some language.
104 Minutes
Directed by: Michael Sucsy
Written by: Jason Katims, Abby Kohn (screenplay), Stuart Sender (story), Marc Silverstein (screenplay), and Michael Sucsy (screenplay)
