Sunday Lists: Nicholas Sparks Adaptations Best to Worst

Its Valentine’s Marathon season here so it makes sense to do a romantic themed list post. A few years ago I reviewed the Nicholas Sparks adaptation films and then proceeded in the next few years catching up as the newer films wer released and now I have watched all of them so it seems like a good idea to rank them from best to worst.

I know these films are pretty formulaic and get hates on a lot but somehow the romantic in me who used to read Nicholas Sparks novels has a rather higher tolerance than most for these films. With that said, here are my rankings from best to worst!

1. A Walk to Remember (review)

A Walk to Remember is hands down the best Nicholas Sparks novel that I read and then the movie delivered with the believable roles by Mandy Moore and Shane West. Its sweet and cute and so very heartfelt and for all those reasons, this movie is great and surpasses what any of the other adaptations were able to achieve.

2. The Longest Ride (review)

Call this a bit of a bias. The Longest Ride gets a lot of points for having these two leads. Brit Robertson and Scott Eastwood are two incredible actors and with that said, I thought that their chemistry is fantastic here and the story with the rodeo and everything fits well together here. I was invested into their romance and it ticked all the boxes I liked to see in a romance.

3. The Best of Me (review)

I’m going to be honest that this choice and the next is fairly neck to neck. The Best of Me scores a little higher very much thanks to how they decided to structure the story here. Plus Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden is really nice to watch here. The chemistry works with the parallel of the older and young couple here and it just works pretty well.

4. The Choice (review)

The Choice falls into the 4th spot. To be honest, I actually enjoy rewatching this one quite a bit. Some factors here is that it has nice ending in comparison to the different varying bittersweet endings in the other movies. There are a great many scenes that I love about this one that is a lot of fun to watch mostly because there are some funny moments here and mixed in with some nice romantic ones. The supporting characters and the side stories here also work well here. There are some frustrating moments but my main issue on why this falls short from the previous one because of the final section which felt forced to be longer. Perhaps I am missing the point but it just didn’t work too well for me.

5. The Notebook (review)

For many people, The Notebook is a phenomenal and possibly the adaptation that works the best for Nicholas Sparks adaptations. However, its never been particularly outstanding to me. The only story I love the most is the elderly couple and the ending which is very memorable. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are very good. Its no doubt that The Notebook is well done and very romantic and for that it gets into the top 5.

6. Message in a Bottle (review)

The first Nicholas Sparks adaptation, Message in a Bottle falls in the 7th spot. My deal with this one is that while it is a pretty good romantic story however also shows off the nature of how Sparks stories are generally structured. Its really a decent one and the main credit goes to Kevin Costner and Robin Wright but then theres always been something that holds me back from going back to watch this one.

7. Safe Haven (review)

As we start heading out of the Top 5, Safe Haven just misses because its chemistry works great and lots of elements work however, as great as Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel works here and theres more than enough cheesy romantic lines to go around, the secret works well enough as the danger element but the twist element here just feels so incredibly out of the blue that is too random for myself and works less and less every time I think about it.

8. Dear John (review)

And then we get to Dear John. Channing Tatum back when this was released was in this cookie cutter roles and for that, I made fun of it so much. While I get the story here and I like the chemistry between Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. The book worked so much better than this adaptation and because of that, it was disappointing and plus, not a big fan of this ending.

9. The Lucky One (review)

I like Taylor Schilling okay from Orange is the New Black (less and less with every season) and Zac Efron is okay as well in my book. And because of that, I remember liking The Lucky One but remember absolutely nothing about this film except maybe some dog training backplot. For its forgettable story, its bagged a lower spot.

10. Nights in Rodanthe (review)

And then we start hitting the last two. Nights of Rodanthe honestly is just not my cup of tea. I have no problem with Diane Lane or Richard Gere. With what they have, its charming to watch but this movie is just fairly boring. It is as simple as that.

11. The Last Song (review)

The Last Song is the worst of the Nicholas Sparks adaptations. It really has to do with the young cast here that I didn’t enjoy. I liked the father daughter story here more than the romance and the latter has a lot of focus.

Thats it for this best to worst list! How would your rankings be different from mine?

Valentine’s Marathon: The Last Song (2012)

The Last Song maybe hold the personal record of a DVD I’ve owned and haven’t seen for the longest amount of time.  Part of the reason I pushed forward for this marathon is so that I make myself watch it.  When this movie first was released, I went out and got the novel to read.  The novel didn’t disappoint at all and I actually enjoyed it but unlike Dear John where I could picture their lead roles as the couple, I could not picture Miley Cyrus in the lead role here…I just couldn’t.  Let me just say, my expectations are EXTREMELY low.  So, really, this movie cannot suck more than it does in my mind already.  I’m trying to stay objective as I push play…Maybe there will be a surprise waiting for me 🙂

Director: Julie Anne Robinson

Cast: Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, Greg Kinnear, Bobby Coleman, Kelly Preston, Hallock Beals

Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) and her brother Danny (Bobby Coleman) are sent to spend the summer with their dad (Greg Kinnear) in his beach house.  While Danny looked forward to the quality time with his dad, Ronnie had trouble with her parents separation and dreaded having to face it.  After a little spilled milkshake incident on the beach, she meets Will, a beach volleyball player/mechanic worker/volunteer at the local aquarium. As they bond over protecting the sea turtle eggs by the beach house, they begin to see they both can open each other’s hearts and this allows Ronnie to see the music and passion for piano that she’s hidden in her for so long.  With the growing passion, her connection with her dad also starts to build again.

At the point in time, I’ve learned that if you are to sit through a Nicholas Sparks books, you have to be ready for the cheesy lines.  I’m actually okay with that because I’m a pretty cheesy person to start with.  I am a cheesy romantic, I’ve admitted that.  Thats probably why I can find enjoyment, even in the slightest for each of these movies so far.  I liked the book so obviously, the story here wasn’t going to be my problem.  And it wasn’t.  With the last year or so getting into knowing about movies and exploring that world so much more, I’ve grown to know a lot more actors and their works.  One of those is definitely Greg Kinnear.  I haven’t seen him play big roles but in the previous stuff I’ve seen him in, he is always entertaining to watch and in this one, I actually found that he was possibly the best one of the whole crew.  The rest of the cast is due to young green actors.

With that said, first up, lets take a look at Liam Hemsworth.  I have to say that the Hemsworth brother has been blessed with some very fantastic genes because although I do believe Chris  Hemsworth is just awesome manly, Liam Hemsworth does have a boyish charm.  Of course, I’m talking about this role and not say, his more manly charms in The Hunger Games.  Still, as one of the earlier roles that he did, I liked it a lot.  He definitely added to my enjoyment of The Last Song.

But we all know that as much as he was the love interest, the back story here is something of a soul searching experience for our dear Miley Cyrus’s character, Ronnie.  Let me confess that I have not seen any Miley Cyrus.  I never got on board with the Hannah Montana thing.  I even had to search to make sure it was actually that that she was playing.  Either way, I don’t really think Miley Cyrus was ever meant to act because she really didn’t do it for me.  Which comes to the point that her acting almost brings down the whole movie.  Plus, she wasn’t really how I pictured Ronnie as I was reading it.  Thats the problem with doing book adaptations, right?

As much as I didn’t like Miley Cyrus, the movie has some really nice back music.  The actual “last song” was pretty awesome that I’m planning on finding the sheet music for it.  I included the song up there in case you wanted to hear it.  I play the piano so I’m a sucker for piano music in movies.  Also, as always I enjoyed the side story with Ronnie’s dad in the picture with family and loss.  The story is a basic troubled teenager soul searching experience and finding the courage to follow your passions and doing what your heart wants and doing things for yourself.  It has a nice message 🙂

I hate to be sounding like I’m hating on the movies every single time (in regards to Nicholas Sparks adaptations) but seriously since I had really low expectations, this one turned out a lot better than I had expected.  Greg Kinnear, the little brother (played by Bobby Coleman) and Liam Hemsworth all do a great job to keep this alive and because of the novel, they do have some nice dialogue and quotes here and there but if you do intend to watch this, just remember that I warned you about Miley Cyrus.  I could picture so many other girls that could’ve excelled in that role instead of her but well, whats done is done…

Have you seen The Last Song? Any thoughts? What do you think of Greg Kinnear/Liam Hemsworth?

And today is the double review day 😉 The next Nicholas Sparks adaptation coming up in the afternoon…be sure to come back to check it out!