NIGHTS IN RODANTHE

“NIGHTS AT RODANTHE” (Diane Lane & Richard Gere)
For an out & out tear-jerking chick flick this isn’t horrible. There’s the obligatory scene of
‘This bore is a complete a**hole, but I’ll sleep with him anyway because he looks like an older version of that guy who was in ‘An Officer & A Gentlemen’ – but other than that, I don’t have any ‘major’ complaints... I do have several minor ones, though.
First off, a better actor in the role of Dr. Flanner would have helped a lot. Gere’s had a couple of good outings lately, but here he falls back into that ‘I’ll Squint For Every Scene
In Which I’m Supposed To Show Emotion In’ mode.
Diane Lane is very good as Adrienne, the mother of a teenage daughter who looks exactly like one of Ozzy Osbourne’s spawn & a 10 year old Harry Potter clone (Neither of which looks remotely like Ms. Lane)
When Adrienne’s jerk-wad ex-husband asks to come crawling back into her life after being dumped by the younger bimbo he left her for – Adrienne actual considers allowing him back into her life (For the sake of the children)
She’s promised to be the caretaker of her best friend’s Inn in Rodanthe for 4 days & she tells her ex she’ll think about it while she’s gone.
The only guest at the Inn is a Mr. Flanner (Gere) who doesn’t have a lot going for him in the personality department (In fact, he’s somewhat of a jerk-wad himself) Yet still you sense that Adrienne is attracted to him because he reminds her of that whore from ‘American Gigalo’.
When Adrienne discovers the reason for ‘Doctor’ Flanner’s visit & sees first hand what a truly uncaring louse the man is – she sleeps with him. Why? I guess because he reminded her of the ‘John’ from ‘Pretty Woman’, who knows? The movie wants you to think it’s due to a storm that hits the Inn, but I think my theory is closer to the truth...
It seems to me that in order to make a successful chick flick, the leading lady has to sleep with some unlikable creep & THEN he turns into a decent guy. Is that the secret ladies?
Is that why those of us who were decent to begin with never stood a chance with you? Do you all have that desire to Change us men? Trust me, if you slept with us after knowing us only an hour or so, we wouldn’t want to change you!
This movie would have been much more plausible if only they had Adrienne bed Dr. Flanner AFTER his metamorphosis...
The rest of the film dies a horrible death as Dr. Flanner flies off to some remote corner of the world to repair his relationship with his son & we have to sit thru endless scenes of Adrienne reading Flanner’s love letters. This pledge of undying love coming from a man she knew for 4 days – You know if you women would wait a few years before deciding to fall hopelessly in love like we men do, you wouldn’t have nearly as many heartbreaking moments in your lives. But I digress... What really disappointed me was the fact that Dr. Flanner’s letters were exceptionally bland (& a little gay) – I was surprised that he never asked her how she felt about using live gerbils & duct tape to ‘enhance’ their lovemaking techniques!
Add in numerous scenes of Adrienne’s construction of a ‘keepsake’ box for the lover she knew for 4 days & you begin to understand how heavy handed & over-wrought the final scenes of this film play out.
Does Adrienne cave in to her children’s wishes & allow ‘daddy’ to come back home?
Or does she ‘dis’ her ex & cause her children to loathe her by waiting for the redeemed Dr. Flanner?
Well, it’s a typically sappy chick flick – YOU write the ending...