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 Notebook (2004)

Its been almost 10 years that this has been out and exactly that same amount of time that I’ve seen it.  The Notebook is one of those adaptations which was great when I saw it but over the years, something has stopped me every time I want to do a repeat viewing.  Finally, because of this marathon, I picked up the dread this weekend and checked it out again.  Lets see how it was, shall we?

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Gena Rowlands, James Garner, Kevin Connolly, James Marsden

Duke is telling another senior woman the story of young love many years ago.  Its the story of a young man who knew exactly what he wanted called Noah (Ryan Gosling) who saw the girl he was attracted to called Allie (Rachel McAdams) who had just gone there for the summer.  Soon after, they became lovestruck but as the summer drawn to a close, Allie’s parents pointed out their social differences and they had to separate from each other.  After Noah went to war, he learned that Allie was already engaged to Lon Hammond (James Marsden) while he was still hoping to win her back with preserving what they had memories of.

I have no idea how to write a synopsis for this story.  Either way, Nicholas Sparks story all have this little funky twist ending of sorts and this one has a sad but beautiful one.  I remember seeing this in the theatres with two of my friends.  I had, of course, already read the book so I knew where this was going but at the same time, it had been a while and I remember having foggy details.  Who am I kidding, right? We chose this movie solely because it was the only one that matched the time when we went, you know, a spontaneous movie hang out with friends.  Whatever the reason, the theatre was packed with people older than us in our late teens and we pretty much had a feeling that we wouldn’t like it.  Turns out, as silly and corny as some of the sequences are, they had sweet moments and at the very end, I shed some tears.

I still can’t pinpoint why I didn’t want to see this movie again maybe its because the last 30 minutes touched me more than the first part did and honestly, this time around, I was cooking for the most of the beginning sequence and just listening and glimpsing at the screen.  My boyfriend downright sat down for a few minutes and then just walked away to play computer games instead and then when I told him which were the good parts, he’d come back down to watch it. The movie irritated him for the most part I think except for the ending.  I think he thought that was alright.  So far it doesn’t really seem like a review, right?

Its really because I don’t know how to say how I feel.  Its really mixed in my mind.  For one, the ending blows this thing way into awesome territory but then to get to the end, I do need to watch the beginning and as much as I love watching a very shaggy rugged Ryan Gosling, love struck and handsome, who I realized has evolved so much over the last ten years as well, the movie does hit a bit of meh for me.  However, taking into the parallel with Duke telling the story and you all know the actual ending of it, it really does tug on those heartstrings.  That part was just out of the world touching.

What was really cool was that, I never realized that James Marsden was in it until this time watching it and hey, I love that guy.  Its a really good actor, so it was a nice little bonus find that boosted this movie a little too 🙂

Before I start running in circles, The Notebook shows a great, long-lasting romance.  One that believes in miracles and that pulls each other together regardless of the consequences.  If you enjoy an epic romance tied with some sappy and some heartwarming and some cute scenes, this is a good one.  Make it through the whole thing and I promise the ending is one of the best I’ve seen.   However, I’d tell you to go ahead and read the novel because it does a better job.

Have you seen The Notebook? Have you read the book?