--- title: "The Notebook: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-notebook/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-notebook" critics_score: 61 critics_reviews: 13 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Notebook (2004): what the critics said Critics' score 61 from 13 reviews: 7 positive, 3 mixed, 3 negative. The reviews lean favourable, with most critics finding enough feeling and strong acting to make The Notebook’s unabashed sentimentality work. Praise clusters around Gena Rowlands and James Garner, whose scenes lend credibility to material often described as sugary or contrived. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams also win broad approval for bringing passion and character to the young romance. Several reviews credit the period detail and Nick Cassavetes’s direction with giving a familiar story emotional weight. The spread is wide, however, and sentiment is the dividing line: what persuades some critics strikes others as manipulation. Reservations centre on the dementia framing, implausible plotting and, occasionally, length and editing. The Los Angeles Times departs from the general praise for the young leads, finding them unpersuasive while admiring Garner and Rowlands. The harshest reviews find the romance derivative and too polished to convey much real passion. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 3.5/4. 25 June 2004. The film is a good tearjerker that respects the passion of young romance and the sentiment of enduring love in old age without pushing too hard. Ebert praises the strong performances, especially from the older cast of Gena Rowlands and James Garner, and the director's ability to find truth beyond soap opera. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-notebook-2004) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 76/100 (inferred from the text). 25 June 2004. The critic calls it premium romantic schlock but notes its appeal as counter-programming with sumptuous production values and a strong cast. The young leads Gosling and McAdams are singled out for their passionate and radiant performances that lift the film. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/the-notebook/4019205.article) ## Variety — Robert Koehler Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 21 May 2004. The unashamed tearjerker is a determined and often affecting romance that doesn't speak down to audiences, with a gifted cast and classical Hollywood textures deftly balanced by director Nick Cassavetes. Koehler highlights the strong performances from the young leads and the emotional force of the older couple's scenes. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2004/film/awards/the-notebook-1200533239/) ## Time Out — JW Fi1m's normalised score 74/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The review notes the sticky-sweet script but highlights how Rowlands and Garner emerge with near-miraculous credibility in their scenes together amid the sentimental framing device. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-notebook) ## Evening Standard — Derek Malcolm Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. The film is a conventional Deep South romance with strong period detail and an able cast, though hampered by length and editing issues; patience is partially rewarded by the performances. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/patience-is-rewarding-7381294.html) ## Film Comment — Eric Hynes Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 18 December 2014. Festival review. The critic reflects on a 10th-anniversary screening of the film at the Savannah Film Festival, where a 35mm print was projected to an emotional audience. Gena Rowlands participated in a post-screening Q&A, and the piece notes the film's reputation as a notorious weepie while welcoming its reclamation. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/festival-savannah-film-festival-2014/) ## Empire — Anna Smith Rating 3/5. The modern-day framing with its Alzheimer's plot is sentimental and oversimplified, but the young leads create magic with their intense, joyful romance. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/notebook-review/) ## Radio Times — Dave Aldridge Rating 3/5. It is a shameless, corny tear-jerker that nevertheless pushes all the right emotional buttons and benefits from uniformly excellent performances by a quality cast. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-y5vyt1/the-notebook/) ## Los Angeles Times — Manohla Dargis Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 25 June 2004. The film is a modest improvement on the novel but remains a three-hankie weepie with some awkward filmmaking and unpersuasive young leads. Dargis singles out the final scenes with James Garner and Gena Rowlands as breathtaking and heartbreaking. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-25-et-dargis25-story.html) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 38/100 (inferred from the text). 25 June 2004. The critic finds the film a painfully mawkish and derivative Titanic knockoff with a contrived Alzheimer's framing device and implausible romance plot. He singles out the over-the-top emotional manipulation and inauthentic Southern setting for complaint. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,4267,1246443,00.html) ## The Times — James Christopher Fi1m's normalised score 38/100 (inferred from the text). 24 June 2004. The critic dismisses the film as a ghastly, tedious piece of oldie slush tediously orchestrated by Cassavetes, centered on an implausible diary of romance read to a dementia patient. He highlights the preposterous plot twists and tasteful posturing of the leads. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/the-notebook-v5c7bc76gnw) ## The AV Club — Scott Tobias Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 22 June 2004. The critic finds the film a glossy, overly sentimental adaptation of Nicholas Sparks that lacks grit or passion, turning a familiar class-crossed romance into syrupy melodrama with a framing device that induces a gag reflex. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-notebook-1798199772) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 2 July 2004. The critic notes the film's heavy sentimentality and contrived structure around dementia but finds that the direction and performances make viewers care anyway. Gosling and McAdams stand out for bringing character and emotional depth to the leads. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-notebook-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-notebook.md