In Nights in Rodanthe, author Nicholas Sparks finds a new way to pull on the heartstrings of unsuspecting viewers. Though this film did not hold all the passion of The Notebook, it carried with it a different significance. Instead of two young and naive lovers, we now have two mature adults with entirely different priorities and a whole new set of emotional baggage.
Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane) is a mother who has separated from her unfaithful husband who now tries to win his way back into her heart. Dr. Paul Planner is a famous plastic surgeon that has lost contact with his son after a procedure of his went awry, resulting in the death of a patient. When her best friend needs to go away for a weekend, Adrienne offers to take care of her inn as an excuse to escape her troubles. Paul, who has come to town to visit the family of his deceased patient, ends up being Adrienne’s only guest at the inn. The two spend the weekend getting to know each other and things escalate romantically when the two are trapped together during a hurricane and quickly fall in love. There are, however, a few twists along the way as Sparks, true to form, doesn’t let his characters get off easy.
Gere and Lane have teamed up together once again since playing a man and his adulterous wife in the 2002 film Unfaithful. Watching the two, their chemistry and comfort level with each other is certainly undeniable. Lane’s recent films include Jumper and Untraceable while Gere recently worked on The Flock and I’m Not There. This is George C. Wolfe’s first time directing for the big screen.
As I mentioned before, the film lacks the heat of other, perhaps younger, romances and yet it somehow finds its way as a portrayal of two people who fall in love in the middle of life rather than the beginning. They are forced to re-evaluate the lives they have built and determine where to go next.
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