Dear John
Screen Gems | Release Date: February 5, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
25
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Dear John carefully distills selected elements of human experience and reduces them to a sweet and digestible syrup. It may not be strong medicine, but it delivers an effective, pleasing dose of pure sentiment and vicarious heartache. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
I'm fully prepared to hear people write off Dear John as corny, sappy, a movie for chicks. But I'd counter that Hallström's old-fashioned idealism about art and emotion is the more important quality shining through Dear John. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin Wilson
Fulfills its mission, which is to be a crowd-pleasing tearjerker. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
There's an audience for old-fashioned romance, and Dear John will please most of it. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
The biggest surprise here is Tatum, whose butch reticence has never been put to better use: His saddest farewell isn’t to his lady, but to a man even more uncommunicative than he is. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'Hara
A touching melodrama illuminated by a solid turn from Tatum. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Hallström's approach to the material is tasteful and restrained to a fault. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Ironically, they make the bond between John and Savannah look so natural that the ''dear John'' turn in their relationship makes even less sense than it does in the book. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The film, while heartfelt and directed by multiple-Oscar nominee Lasse Hallstrom, is dramatically stillborn. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian Lowry
Ultimately, the story feels as if it's killing time before throwing the next hurdle at the couple. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Dear John exists only to coddle the sentiments of undemanding dreamers, and plunge us into a world where the only evil is the interruption of the good. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
I truly wish Dear John were a better, less shamelessly manipulative movie, but a couple of the actors got me through it alive. One is Amanda Seyfried. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The film has two curious subplots and supporting performances that feel tacked on rather than organically part of it. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJanice Page
Unfortunately for Tatum and Seyfried, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams did a far more convincing version of this same basic dance in “The Notebook.’’ Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
You're more likely to roll your eyes than swoon over this slow-moving and far-fetched love story. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
There's no real depth or texture to the characters of any sort, sentimental or otherwise, and I say that as someone who can be brought to tears by a Hallmark commercial. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
You promised only a slim plot, tidy morals and lovers with quaking loins. It was fun while it lasted. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Dear Nicholas Sparks, There's no easy way to say this. But with Dear John, the latest of the five films made so far from your sentimental, best-selling novels, I think our relationship is in trouble. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
If you're just hoping for a little easy escapism, bring your tissues and leave your high standards at home. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
The ending of Dear John feels manufactured and patently false. Seyfried tries to sell it, but you can tell that she's having a hard time believing the words coming out of her mouth. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Halfway through the movie, I decided a better title for this weepie contraption would be “The Hurt Letter.” Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The appeal is there for those who crave formulaic romantic drama, but there's little of interest for a wider audience. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
Awash in mawkish sentimentality, Dear John still will move you deeply - if you're a 12-year-old girl. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This terminally sappy romance delivers heartache, sacrifice, a make-out scene in the pouring rain, and not one but two autistic characters. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazineJohn P. McCarthy
As flat as the Carolina coastal region in which it’s set, Dear John features two gorgeous young actors playing denuded characters in search of more narrative garb. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
What happens when a genuinely dear John gets a Dear John? For the answer, just meander--no need for running or walking--to your local multiplex. That's where Dear John, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name, will be meandering on its downward path from sweetly tender to terminally turgid. Read full review
40
SlateDana Stevens
It's the cinematic equivalent of a plastic-covered couch under a "Bless This House" sampler. And that's not a bad thing, for audiences who have a high threshold for sentiment and a low one for dramatic conflict. Read full review
40
TimeMary Pols
This isn't a love story, it's a misery story that drags on, not to a dramatic conclusion but a tepid moment. Read full review
40
Time OutAaron Hillis
"Chocolat" director Lasse Hallström’s tastefully old-fashioned melodrama has exactly one objective: yanking gallons of cathartic tears out of your face by any means necessary. Read full review
38
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
Hallstrom and his low-heat stars can’t find the pulse of this corpse. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
He is meant to be brooding, I think, but Tatum’s vague features read more “meathead” than anguished young lover. He has to carry the film, but he’s the least interesting thing going on here. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Sappy and predictable. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
Dear John is the sort of movie that gives tearjerkers a bad name. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
As for the ladies who think any kind of chick flick is preferable to football, be careful what you wish for. Read full review
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