Romantic flick treads deeper than usual

Dear John lead actor Channing Tatum signs autographs for fans. (AP Photo/Pouya Dianat, Allied Integrated Marketing)

YOU’D have to have a cold iron heart not to be just a little bit touched by Dear John.

The flick is the latest Nicholas Sparks’ novel to get the Hollywood treatment and like the others that came before ( The Notebook, A Walk to Remember), it follows the same basic storyline - two ordinary people + meeting in ordinary circumstances = an extraordinary love story.

This time round the two ordinary people are sweet-as-pie Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) and army man John (Channing Tatum).

Dear John will no doubt be compared with The Notebook, but it goes far beyond the normal ‘boy meets girl’ story, with a large majority of the film focussing on John’s heartbreaking relationship with his father.

• Thanks to our friends at Reading Cinemas Redbank, The Satellite has a double movie pass to giveaway. For your chance to win, email your full name, address and phone number to gemma.blair@qtcn.com.au.