Memories of a Lifetime in "The Vow"

By Natalie Wirtz

If your memory was erased and you had the chance to re-choose the path and direction of your life, would you choose the same? That is the main premise of “The Vow,” now in theaters.

“The Vow,” a movie inspired by the true life story of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, was the highest grossing movie this weekend earning $42 million in only three days. The marketing of this movie was essential to the Valentine’s Day crowd and romantic movie lovers. However, being a romantic movie lover myself, “The Vow” had me hooked until the end when it left me feeling unsatisfied and disappointed. I wanted to witness another great love story like Allie and Noah in Nicholas Sparks’ “The Notebook,” but I have come to the realization that since the film is based on a real-life story, real life does not always have a swoon-worthy Hollywood ending. Just like in the 2006 film “The Break Up” where Jennifer Anniston and Vince Vaughn’s characters actually break up.

Following a book released in 2000 entitled “The Vow”, the movie tells the story of a young couple, Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams) and the vows that they once made to each other, remembered or forgotten.

Set in Chicago, the movie tells the story Leo and Paige, as they fall in love and get married. Shortly following their vows, leaving a theatre, they are involved in a devastating car crash that leaves Paige with short-term memory loss. She does not remember getting married, or ever meeting her husband. Not much is known about their past before they met and the audience discovers how defining decisions and choices influence the people they come to be.

Even though the story primarily focuses on the theme of a vow and what it represents to Leo, other themes emerge. “The Vow” is also a story of choice and if given a chance, would you make the same decision twice. It is an emotional story that gets people to wonder if they were in the same situation would they honor their vows? McAdams and Tatum played their roles of Paige and Leo exceptionally well. McAdams’ well played emotional roller coaster of an amnesia patient trying to put her life back together opposite the sultry stare and love portrayed by Tatum made me hope for a happy ending. The two romance movie alums carried the movie forward when the scrip often fell flat.

Tatum and McAdams are both notable romance movie alums, staring in roles written by Nicholas Sparks (Tatum in “Dear John” and McAdams in “The Notebook”). These are both movies I enjoy and I believe based on McAdams and Tatum’s previous roles I set the bar too high for this film. I was waiting for the moment that made me catch my breath or break down in sobs, but it never came. The one hour and forty-five minute movie could have benefited with an extra ten minuets to help tie up the loose ends and give the audience a better sense of closure. If they are meant to live happily ever after, let the audience see and experience it too. I believe if I saw this movie with no prior bias of expecting a Nicholas Sparks-like film, my reaction would have been different. Even though the end left me dissatisfied, I feel inspired by the story of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter and I like the message that they have chosen to share with the world. That is, life is made of: the defining decisions, choices and vows we make.