The flick briefly touched upon the very real post divorce impact on children. Long-term issues of blame and guilt often divide parents and children, especially when communication is poor. Kingston attempted a fatherly reconnection after a relationship cutoff from his 19-year-old son, due to an emotionally conflicted divorce some 12 years earlier. The resolution of the relationship was left hanging in this movie. Another sequel perhaps?
Peyton's developing relationship with her newly found 19-year-old daughter was thrown in as a sideline and not fully developed. But I chuckled at the teen’s trite reminder to her mother that, "Mother doesn't have an ‘S’ in front of it."
Another relationship hot topic, marital infidelity, was added to the mix. But again, the movie failed to enrich the theme into clear relevance. Overall, The Note II seems to have a lot of different ‘chapter titles’ mentioned without any writing on the pages or going any where.
I have a favorite line from the movie, which came near the end. I suppose my time was not fully wasted because of it. From the voiceover where Peyton was writing her column, we hear "… confront the ghosts determined to destroy my future." Peyton's ghosts included marital betrayal, attempted suicide, giving up her child for adoption, and other unmentioned trauma.
As a therapist, I cannot resist commenting that, if left unresolved, these types of emotional traumas and many others realistically destroy or interfere with healthy relationships and the experience of enduring love and romance. In the end, I find that the strong message of both The Note I and The Note II is to "find your ghost and bust it” to have a chance at love.
If you like chick flicks, The Note II - Take a Chance on Love, might be an okay watch on a slow night.
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