Dear John – Dir Lassie Holström, starring Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins

This damp love story does no justice to Nicholas’ Sparks novel of the same name – and despite stirring up enough emotion to coax out the odd tear, the overall story falls flat and appears to have a distinct lack of direction from Holström.

John Tyree (Tatum) is a young soldier on leave from the Army Special Forces when he meets the young Savannah (Seyfried) who’s on spring break from college. The pair instantly fall in love – but John must return to duty. Promising to write John letters while he’s away with the army, the young couple keep their romance alive through pen and paper. But as each deployment becomes more dangerous than the last, the heartfelt correspondence bears consequences that neither could ever have foreseen.

This endearing tale starts off on all the right notes – but barely halfway through, the story loses depth and purpose; lukewarm and far too clichéd, Dear John half-heartedly tries to carry Sparks’ novel over the cinematic finish line – but the end seems far slighter than the original finale. If you haven’t read the book yet, don’t bother with the film – it’ll only put you off.