Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams were in one of the best romance movies of the 2000s, and I can’t believe it didn’t get the respect it deserved on Rotten Tomatoes. McAdams and Gosling have both had very successful careers as actors, and they’ve starred in several amazing movies. Gosling has been in critically acclaimed movies like Drive and La La Land. McAdams, too, has had several massively successful films like Spotlight and Midnight In Paris. They’re now some of the biggest names in Hollywood, but not all of their movies have been huge hits, especially earlier in their careers.

While both Gosling and McAdams have some bad movies in their filmographies, the only romance movie they did together certainly doesn’t deserve to be categorized among them. This movie made it onto the list of Ryan Gosling’s most iconic roles, as well as the list of Rachel McAdams’ best movies. That’s a very impressive feat, considering how many movies those actors have been in, and how successful their respective careers are. Gosling and McAdams’ movie is loved by audiences, but it got short-changed by critics, and I still don’t understand why.

The Notebook’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Only 54%

Gosling and McAdams starred in the classic romance movie The Notebook in 2004, but it didn’t get nearly the acclaim it deserved. The Notebook only earned a 54% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes – low enough to be considered “rotten.” The Notebook, however, is far better than that score indicates. The critic consensus spells out exactly how overly harsh reviewers were: “The Notebook is too clumsily manipulative to rise above its melodramatic clichés.” I, like many other viewers, loved the movie, and it earned a much higher score with audiences: 85%. It’s a beautiful love story and a well-made movie, and The Notebook deserves much more love.

Why The Notebook Deserves More Love (Even 20 Years Later)

Critics called The Notebook “melodramatic,” and it does include some grand, possibly cheesy gestures, but it also executed them perfectly. Anything in The Notebook that could be labeled melodramatic upon closer inspection certainly doesn’t feel that way while watching. Every emotional beat in the movie works, from the moment Allie saw the renovated house to Noah telling her about the letters in the rain. On their own, they might be considered cheesy, but in the movie, they made viewers, myself included, feel exactly what The Notebook wanted them to feel. A little melodrama is well worth it to make viewers feel something.

The emotional impact of The Notebook is why the movie deserves so much more than 54%. It’s a beautiful love story that seems to go through all the stages of real love. When I first watched The Notebook, I was completely captured by its narrative, and I felt everything from joy and excitement to dread and grief. By the end of The Notebook, I was emotionally invested in Noah and Allie’s story, which is not something that often happens to me with romance movies. The fact that The Notebook accomplished what so many other romances couldn’t means it earned well more than 54% in my eyes.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes