The Vow

Your vows which are said during the consummation of marriage are meant to be the most important words uttered to your loved one. The Vow, which is inspired from a true story, illustrates just how important the love between two people can be and – as said by Tatum in the film – what if all those memories were just suddenly erased and your wife had forgotten even marrying you?

Taken from the real lives of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, The Vow is a romantic drama recounting the life of Leo (Channing Tatum) who – after a car accident erases the memory of his wife Paige (Rachel McAdams) so she doesn’t remember their marriage – sets out to try and help his wife get back the memories of their relationship.

As well as Paige now beginning to fall back in love with her ex Jeremy (Scott Speedman), her parents Rita and Bill Thornton, portrayed exquisitely by veterans Sam Neill and Jessica Lange, will stop at nothing to have their daughter back in their lives again, even if it means holding back a dark secret.

Props to new director Michael Sucsy whose first major motion picture is pulled off with relative ease and a story that is told in a simple manner with little room for confusion. However, the same cannot be said for the two leading parts. Having witnessed one of the performances of the year so far from Jones and Yelchin in ‘Like Crazy’, I badly wanted to the chemistry between Leo and Paige to either match or be stronger, but I was sadly disappointed.

Channing Tatum has shown he can lead a film with relative ease in previous works such as ‘The Eagle’ and ‘Dear John’ where interactions with the supporting cast is kept to a minimum and sultry poses to the camera are all that’s needed for the girls to swoon and the money to come back But when asked to show real emotion and spurts of anger, Tatum spectacularly fails. Along with a monotonic voice-over explaining his inner thoughts, in some scenes where Leo got frustrated I found myself having to forcibly hold back a laugh.

Apart from these minor niggles which don’t overbear the film in a general sense, there are plenty of fluffy romantic dramas that are distinctly worse but then again, this certainly will not be the best of its genre in the coming year.

The Vow is best described as a middle-of-the-road type romance film, which has a strong screenplay to keep the audience engaged in the struggles which both protagonists endure.

The last quarter of the film is surprising and is probably one of the best parts. It could only be described as a breath of fresh air to a genre which frequently dishes up very predictable endings. In my book, The Vow is the perfect Valentine’s Day movie to take someone special to.

Verdict: •••

Richard Taverner

Watch the official trailer for The Vow here