Typical. Actor Channing Tatum,  who is playing the role of a war hero, was just shot. A voice in the background, his voice, reads a letter aloud. According to it, his last thought before he blacked out was “you.” And then we move into a flashback.

The move was predictable from the start, and not one to look forward to. The trite script, disjointed plot, and unlikely characters made this movie difficult to sit through without the distraction of a conversation about annoying boyfriends behind me. Perhaps the only factor about this movie that kept me hooked onto it was the exceptional performance by the two leading actors.

After the first scene, we move to a flashback, and the typical romantic movie elements were already there: A shirtless soldier, John Tyree (Channing Tatum), a jealous boy friend and an unlikely encounter. Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) drops her purse into the ocean, incapable of being revived by her incompetent boyfriend. And, of course, John Tyree comes along and revives the bag for her. Coming into watching a romance movie, there is not much else to expect. But nevertheless the encounter was much too predictable and the following romance scenes too scripted. At one point, the stranded couple was conveniently isolated out in the open rain, only to pursue their romantic make-out session. Really now?

After the spring break of romance, they are incapable of parting one another, too “in love” to let go. However, viewers did not take any notice of this love the characters of the movie were so bound by, and frankly had no clue what to make of their all too easily confessed adoration for one another. There was a lack of transition between developments in the couple’s relationship. The transition of letters between one another was unclear and then after that, the halt of letter delivery was hard to follow as well. The following scenes showed incidents of growth in the couple’s relationship which made no sense coming after scenes of unclear plot development.

Even more, the characters depicted throughout the film are simply unrealistic. Savannah is a teenage mother Theresa. She does not drink, does not sleep around, does charity work during her spring break, and wants to open a summer camp for autistic kids. Definitely not like most teenagers in this generation. Her perfection made her an un-relatable, unrealistic character. However, Amanda Seyfried definitely exercised her talent to act by taking on such an unrealistic role with so much passion. A role quite different from her past ones, Seyfried made Savannah come to life, perfection included. And while Channing Tatum’s role was similar to his past ones as an angst-y romantic teenager, he was able to pull it off just as well as he always has. The enthusiasm each actor put into their roles was notable in the extraordinary array of feelings they were able to convey in the film, though they may be disjointed and uncalled for due to abrupt scene changes.

However, the talents of these actors were not enough to save this movie. Simply put, this movie was typical.

2.5 stars out of 5