Movies based on books are known for being hit-or-miss. While Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films were able to bring J.R.R. Tolkein’s timeless trilogy to life, few other adaptations have fared as well. This is because film and book are such fundamentally different mediums, that only some stories are well suited for making the jump from one to the other. And although I can’t speak to the quality of Dear John the novel, I can safely assume it is better than Dear John the film.

Dear John stars Channing Tatum (Step Up, Stop-Loss) as John Tyree, a young Special Forces sergeant who falls in love with small-town girl Savannah (Amanda Seyfried, Mean Girls) two weeks before shipping off for a two-year tour of duty overseas. Over the course of this separation, the star-crossed lovers’ only communication with each other is through letters. But John soon learns that a lot can change in two years.

Director Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, The Cider House Rules) helms this film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ popular novel of the same name. Unfortunately, it’s a tear-jerker story that translates to a yawn-jerker film. The plot drags, the dialogue is eye-rollingly cheesy, and Tatum and Seyfried have the chemistry of baking soda and vinegar. And while very few happy things happen over the course of the film, there is no shortage whatsoever of people suffering. Cancer, autism, strokes, single dads, infidelity, heartbreak, and that’s just stateside. Dear John never quite finds a balance between the sad and the happy because it never really finds the happy to begin with. All the happy parts feel like they’re a Frankenstein’s monster assembled from pieces of dead romcom clichés. It’s an hour forty-eight spent watching the characters suffer.

As much as it pains me to say it, Channing Tatum is actually a very talented actor. He just needs to stop choosing trashy movies so people will stop associating him with them. Amanda Seyfried on the other hand could use a bit of coaching. While she’s a great addition to a supporting cast (think Mean Girls) her leading lady chops could use some seasoning. But my favorite parts of the film were the scenes with John’s dad. The autistic and obsessive Mr. Tyree is played with brilliant reserve by academy award nominee Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) who is able to effortlessly sell every scene that he’s in. In a character-driven piece filled with so-so acting, his performance stood out a head above the rest. Also be on the look out for Henry Thomas, almost 30 years after playing Eliott in E.T., he can still project the same boyish innocence as he could then.

The DVD features are surprisingly extensive, including 12 deleted scenes, an alternate ending, outtakes, interviews with the director and leads, a featurette on the production design, a segment on working with the military advisors, a segment on

the coin collection advisor, and a 23-minute featurette on Braeden Reed, the young actor with autism who plays Savannah’s autistic neighbor in the film. I would like to commend the people behind the Dear John DVD for including so much material with the film, it really helps to show the masses just how multi-faceted filmmaking is. And it gives people besides the director and cast (the production designer in Dear John’s case) a chance to be appreciated for their work. It’s something more films should start doing.

Dear John is worth watching if you like any of the following: The original novel, Channing Tatum, Lasse Hallström, Richard Jenkins, or being depressed. If you would like to watch the movie for it’s story, I would suggest reading it in it’s original form – as a novel.