Phil sees THE VOW at the Camera 12 Downtown San Jose-February 10, 2012

The second film I saw Friday night after CHRONICLE was the new chick flick THE VOW, starring the beautiful Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. Now just in case you never heard of the term "chick flick," it's slang meaning "a film mainly dealing with love and romance designed to appeal to a female target audience." For most men who are dating or married to a woman, chances are she will want you to take her to see one of these films. Now some are very good and entertaining while others will make you wish you were getting a route canal. However this film was actually decent, so men be not afraid.

Theatrical Movie Poster (2012)

The film's about a happily married couple named Paige and Leo (McAdams and Tatum), who have been together for the past five years. However one night they are in a terrible car accident, landing them both in the hospital. Leo heals but Paige lies in a coma. Once she wakens, she doesn't recognize her husband. The doctors soon realize that Paige has lost her memory of the past five years. Leo becomes determined to help his wife to regain her memory, but her parents Bill and Rita Thorton (Sam Neill and Jessica Lange respectively) are planning to take her away from him and have their perfect family again. Also trying to claim Paige's heart is her ex-fiance Jeremy (Scott Speedman from the UNDERWORLD series). Leo does what he can to help Paige, but in the end will love be enough to save their marriage or will it all just end?

Now the film's premise may sound far fetched, but believe it or not the story is actually based on a real life couple, Kim and Krickitt Carpenter. On November 1993, the Carpenters were in an automobile accident on I-40 west of Gallup in New Mexico. Krickitt, never regained her memory but the couple are still married and have two children. They originally sold the movie rights to their story back in 1996 but objected to movie scripts that strayed too far from the truth, so they wrote a book about their story called "The Vow: The Kim and Krickitt Carpenter Story" which was published in 2000. Soon Spyglass Entertainment came along with a script that the Carpenters approved of. 

Now the film and book are different in many ways. The film takes place in Chicago instead of New Mexico. The film has Paige and Leo being married for four years while the Carpenters were married for only 10 weeks before the accident. Leo is a music producer and has his own studio while Kim was a baseball coach at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas. So like I said, subtle differences.

Now as for the film itself, there are the usual standard Hollywood cliches. You have the stereotypical evil parents, the jerk ex and the predictable "will love conquer all" finale. I know, what a big surprise there, huh? But McAdams is a very capable actress and she gets into character. The post-accident Paige is a complete 180 from the pre-accident Paige, which itself is commendable. From her stance to her language and behaviour, McAdams performance is really, really good.

As for Tatum, he's just there. However women will get to see Tatum's bum on the big screen, so this will be another reason for you ladies to see the film. His acting, however, is just not up to par with his costar McAdams. The pair did have some decent chemistry on screen, but I felt they weren't quiet right. But then again that's my opinion. But the story was decent, it had McAdams doing what she does best and there were some funny dialogue so the film wasn't a total loss. It was entertaining enough to hold my attention.

THE VOW is far from being a modern day romance classic like THE NOTEBOOK and TITANIC, but it does give women a reason to go out the cinemas, Plus it's sappy enough for them to like it and to enjoy watching with their special someone. So men, if you're looking for something fun to do with your wife/girlfriend this Valentine's Day, take her to see this film. You might not like it, but she will, and her happiness is the most important thing for you to give her. Three out of five stars.

THE VOW is currently playing in theaters nationwide, including at the Camera Cinemas here in the Bay Area. To view showtimes, visit their website at www.cameracinemas.com. 

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!