The latest Nicholas Sparks weeper to go Hollywood (see also "Message in a Bottle" and "A Walk to Remember"), "The Notebook" is a particularly soppy romance about a pair of teenagers in love during the summer of 1940-something. While there's certainly a place in the season's blockbuster release schedule for a quieter, gentler film, mercilessly plodding pacing, problematic character motivations and a fundamental lack of chemistry between the two star-crossed lovers in question don't do a lot to help its cause. Even the sturdy work of old pros James Garner and Gena Rowlands (in the film's parallel modern-day plotline) can only go so far to help solidify this puddle of mush, which screened this week at the Seattle International Film Festival and opens commercially next month.

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