Dear Reader, I’m sorry to say it, but Dear John is a replica of The Notebook with just a few added twists. Regardless, not a dry eye will leave the theater. Director Lasse Hallström wisely chose the ab-riffic Channing Tatum to play Army boy John Tyree, and the dazzling girl-next-door Amanda Seyfried as Savannah Curtis. The story, based on a novel by the renowned romance author Nicholas Sparks, starts with a chance encounter on a southern beach. John is home on leave while the all-too-perfect Savannah is on spring break building homes for Habitat for Humanity.

After two weeks of blissful swooning, John returns overseas while Savannah returns to school. Their love inspires a flurry letters between the separated sweethearts. However, like most dramas, nothing goes quite as planned. Increased deployments and the events of 9/11 prompt a hard decision for John: return home to the love of his life like he promised, or extend his contract with the army and fight for his country.

Their separation triggers fateful consequences. Sparks didn’t name the novel Dear John on a whim.

Much like the common ‘Dear John’ break-up letter, the couple in the movie suffers hardships, both personally and within their relationship. Ladies, bring tissues.

Despite the tumultuous bumps and breakups which resemble those in The Notebook, Tatum and Seyfried share moving and heartfelt scenes, leaving you rooting for a happily ever after. Suprisingly, it doesn’t end in precisely the way you might think. The movie allows the audience to imagine their own perfect ending.

For those who read the novel, the movie deviates little from the original plot. Like most say, the book is always better than the movie. A bit of advice for the ladies — save your boyfriend/brother/male friends the pain of sitting through this movie and leave it for sappy, hopeless romantics. It’s a perfect girl’s-night-out movie, complete with a passionate love story and the dashing Tatum, who wears a bare chest or tight shirt throughout its entirety.