The Vow - 2 stars

Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams) have been married for about 4 years. They are very much in love, very happy, and are starting to try for a baby. One night they get rear ended by a truck and she ends up in a coma. When she wakes up, she doesn't remember the last 5 years, which means she doesn't remember her husband Leo.

This could be the setup for an interesting story. What if you waked up and couldn't remember the last 5 years? Think of all the questions you would have. Not only do you not recognize your life, but what current events have you missed? One of my first questions would be about movies - which movies won Oscars the last 5 years? What's happening with the Batman or Spider Man or Hobbit franchise? Who is the president?

There are so many possibilities for a story like this. Unfortunately this movie isn't interested in exploring what would really happen. This movie is very contrived. Instead of interesting dialogue, we get story beats that aren't fleshed out very well.

When Paige wakes up from her coma, her parents come to see her. We learn that Leo never told them that their daughter was almost killed. Interestingly they have never met Leo. She hasn't seen her parents in years. Did they even know she was married? Apparently Paige changed every possible aspect of her life 5 years ago. She left home and moved to the big city (a whopping half hour away from home). She dropped out of law school and became an artist. She became a vegitarian. She changed her hair style. It's hard to believe this setup. No wonder she has a hard time adjusting to this foreign life.

I would like to see a movie with a similar setup, but with well drawn characters and sharp dialogue. They never have much of a conversation. The movie tends to cut away right when a scene is about to get to something interesting.

They filmed their wedding. You would think Leo would show her the video right away. But no - she finds it on her own several days after coming home. You would think Leo would catch her up on events chronologically. This never happens either.

I don't think my expectations were too high for this movie, and it let me down. But it wasn't boring or painful to sit through, so I went with the 2 star rating. You could see worse movies (like Journey 2), but this is not a movie you should seek out.