‹ All movies

The Rewatchables ·

The Notebook

year 2004decade 00sdirector Nick Cassavetesgenre Drama
host Juliet Litmanhost Amanda Dobbinshost Andrew Gruttadaro
All 14 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 7:33

The dock scene in the rain: 'why didn't you write me', 'it wasn't over, it still isn't over' and the kiss

Before any nominees, the question is whether a scene without both Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams can even make a case, such as Joan Allen taking Allie to see the boyfriend that never was; the answer is no, that belongs in a different category, so this is a Noah and Allie podcast, young Noah and Allie, with old Noah and Allie saved for later.

The first nominee is the first date: they lie down in the empty street, almost get hit by a car, then dance while Gosling hums 'I'll be seeing you'; it is called one of the more romantic movie scenes of the 21st century, the insistence on dancing is sweet, he is a trained dancer from the Mickey Mouse Club, and the scene is the purest expression of the chemistry that animates the movie.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 1:13:04

"If you're a bird, I'm a bird"

Many quotes were covered during the scene discussion, which is what makes them so good.

The film

The Notebook (2004)

Directed by Nick Cassavetes · Drama

123 minutes

IMDbLetterboxdJustWatch
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Cast credits have not been imported yet.

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

40:43

Casting What-Ifs

Jessica Biel, Britney Spears, Reese Witherspoon and Ashley Judd were in the mix for Allie; Justin Timberlake was rumo...

Jessica Biel, Britney Spears, Reese Witherspoon and Ashley Judd were in the mix for Allie; Justin Timberlake was rumored as Noah; Steven Spielberg wanted to direct with Tom Cruise

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:43Read transcript
  • Quite a few actresses wished they had gotten Allie; Jessica Biel is the most vocal, having called it in an interview the film that got away, though one host no longer acknowledges Jessica Biel.
  • Britney Spears would have been terrible, and with Justin Timberlake rumored as Noah a Justin-and-Britney Notebook was probably considered; she is a really bad actress who has never had chemistry with anyone, said with respect; Reese Witherspoon may not be a true rumor, and Ashley Judd would have been too old.
  • Timberlake is not a good actor but fun in The Social Network; he later worked with Nick Cassavetes in Alpha Dog with Emile Hirsch, a time capsule of 2006 that nobody saw.
  • Steven Spielberg apparently wanted to direct this with Tom Cruise starring, which prompts a wish to ask Spielberg what attracted him, with the war part the guess, and a joke that Kevin Connolly would have fared better; the timing is first placed right after Jerry Maguire, then corrected to around 2002, after Eyes Wide Shut and the Nicole divorce, coming off Minority Report and Vanilla Sky.
  • Cruise's Noah would be a different take that would not make the movie work, though possibly accurate to the script, and not the romantic movie we know; the what-ifs are fun because where they landed is so perfect, Gosling was famously cast first, and a DVD extra shows McAdams coming in for her read looking even younger.
Share this discussion More Casting What-Ifs answers
48:18

Half-Assed Internet Research

James Garner told Gosling 'I don't do accents, kid'; Gosling moved to South Carolina before filming; Gosling made fur...

James Garner told Gosling 'I don't do accents, kid'; Gosling moved to South Carolina before filming; Gosling made furniture to prepare; the leads disliked each other on set; Cassavetes directed his mother Gina Rollins (as transcribed); the trivia comes from the DVD commentary

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:18Read transcript
  • Asked for the anecdote, Gosling tried to get real actor-to-actor with James Garner, asking what accent he was going to do, and Garner apparently told him 'I don't do accents, kid' and that accents are stupid. — Andrew Gruttadaro
  • The hosts side with Team James Gardner (as transcribed); Gosling also raised his blue eyes against Garner's brown and the response was that he did not care; Garner seemed to have no time for him.
  • Asked whether the affection for Gosling survives the deep-theater-kid contact-lens matching, the answer is that this is the part of Gosling we try not to acknowledge: there is weird indie-band, indie-movie Gosling and funny, charming Gosling, a one-for-them, one-for-me approach, and the pesky method kid who writes extreme character biographies and journals, so a Noah notebook surely exists in the archives. — Amanda Dobbins
  • More research: Gosling moved to South Carolina before the movie to get comfortable with the terrain, which would be weirder if he were not Canadian, though he spent time in Florida for the Mickey Mouse Club as a Disney kid; he contains multitudes, as Walt Whitman would say.
  • Gosling also started making furniture to prepare for the role. — Andrew Gruttadaro
  • The furniture is a fun wrinkle that one host wishes there were more of, while another thinks one close-up on the beautiful furniture in his workshop was the right amount; whether that is how he pays the bills is unknown and parked for picking nits.
  • Earlier: the two leads did not like each other on set and fought a lot, and a big blowout apparently made things better.
  • Earlier: Gina Rollins (as transcribed) is the director's mother, James Garner would break when the director called 'okay, mom, action', and the director dominates the DVD commentary, the source of the trivia the hosts cite.
Share this discussion More Half-Assed Internet Research answers
1:01:45

Picking Nits

The home-restoration and engagement timeline; the health of young Noah and Allie's relationship; building and stockin...

The home-restoration and engagement timeline; the health of young Noah and Allie's relationship; building and stocking a house for someone unseen in seven years; Allie going off the grid on Lon; the hand-cut arrows and Xerox paper; Lon's convoluted proposal; the $50,000 asking price for the plantation; the abrupt ending; how Noah pays the bills

In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:45Read transcript
  • Invited to go first, the number one nit, written in caps, is a request to explain the timeline of the home restoration and how long Ali and Lon were engaged. — Amanda Dobbins
  • The timeline is laid out: they meet June 6, 1940, Allie at 17 starts Sarah Lawrence that fall and graduates in spring 1944, and she returns to Noah in 1947, since she says she waited seven years, so she has been with Lon about three years.
  • Asked what questions remain, meeting at the end of the war in 1944 or 1945 makes sense, and the concern is that we are shown the engagement and then Noah starting work on the house. — Amanda Dobbins
  • Perhaps she took a year off to nurse; in the 40s there were about six weeks between engagement and marriage and this woman would have married faster, yet the movie shows the entire restoration, Sam Shepard dying in between, Noah pulling off the facade floorboard by floorboard alone, and his newspaper feature alongside her wedding announcement; even allowing six months for a society wedding, one person cannot renovate a house like that, so the timeline makes no sense.
  • Asked for a major nit, there are concerns about early Noah and Allie's relationship and its health. — Andrew Gruttadaro
  • The relationship runs on adrenaline and hating Allie's mom; they get into physical fights, hitting each other rather than bickering, which may be meant to communicate passion, though rewatching Big Little Lies prompts a rethink of the link between physical aggression and passion; Noah also gets a personality transplant, barely talking in the second half before transforming back into James Garner.
  • Also a nitpick: is it healthy to build an entire house for someone you have not spoken to in seven years and stock it with sketch notebooks, pencils and canvases? Romantic in the movie, weird and stalkery in real life; a beautiful house is one host's love language but the third sketch notebook is intense, a flip-side Mrs. Havisham who was called a madwoman, a double standard, and a Lloyd Dobler problem of movie romance ignoring boundaries; Gosling gets credit for channeling the break with reality it would take.
  • Allie going off the grid for two or three days is really rude to lovely Lon and not good behavior, even if you are uncontactable on Seabrook Island in 1947 and Noah's remote house probably has no phone; why Noah never got another friend after Kevin Connolly died is answered with 'once you have E' there are no replacements.
  • Two smaller nits: Noah could not have had time to cut so many differently shaped arrows for the painting scene, a two-hour project at most, and the paper looked like straight-up Xerox paper, not 1947-approved; Marsden's proposal is extremely convoluted, the bit about her parents does not land, 'I've asked your parents already' is always hated, and it needed a rewrite.
  • Asked for other nits, Noah is only asking $50,000 for the plantation, which in the 1940s is like $500,000 and not enough money; he needs a better understanding of the real estate market and his land. — Andrew Gruttadaro
  • Coastal property goes for far more; classic Noah not consulting an expert.
  • The movie ends abruptly, panning up from the bed to credits; one host would end on Allie returning to the house and the all-time McAdams shrug, up there with the Jordan shrug, and stops watching there because the extra fifteen minutes of old people are unnecessary, while another starts weeping then because it shows love is real and the hospital plot cannot be left unresolved.
  • Netflix quietly used an alternate ending in which the old couple simply go to bed and no nurse finds them dead, which the hosts agree is better; the fifteen-minute epilogue is unneeded even by someone who usually loves an epilogue.
  • One host, perhaps cold at heart, has never been moved to tears by this movie despite loving sad things, and thinks the old people ruin it, while the weeping host stands with Craig in the corner valuing love that lasts a lifetime; the abrupt-ending complaint is really a wish for one more young Noah and Allie moment, since her return is no guarantee it works out, although the old-people premise is that it does and their kids come; some are interested in the old-people story and some are not.
  • Earlier, during the research, whether Noah's furniture is how he pays the bills was flagged as unknown and parked for picking nits.
Share this discussion More Picking Nits answers
1:15:07

Probably Unanswerable Questions

How did Noah get off the Ferris wheel? Does Allie recognize Lon when he turns up at Sarah Lawrence? What injuries did...

How did Noah get off the Ferris wheel? Does Allie recognize Lon when he turns up at Sarah Lawrence? What injuries did Lon incur and how did he survive them? Why are Noah and Allie's kids so cold-hearted?

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:07Read transcript
  • The big one, shared by two hosts: how did Noah get off the Ferris wheel? There is no explanation; the guess is they kept moving the wheel slowly, car by car, until he could drop, which already seems dangerous.
  • When Marsden arrives at Sarah Lawrence, does Allie instantly recognize him? One host thinks you are supposed to think she does; another just wants to raise it, having had too many items for picking nits; a related question is the extent of his hospital injuries and how he survived a full body cast with presumed internal bleeding, so only in the magical world where he looks hot in uniform six months later does she recognize him.
  • Asked, this viewer went back and forth on rewatch: it seems like she recognizes him, but also like a cute guy is just looking at her, and they walk fully past him so he has to say 'remember me'. — Andrew Gruttadaro
  • Her friends ask who that guy is, so she was not talking him up as the hot man in the body cast who asked her out; the earlier house-building question is answerable, the answer being no, and the Ferris wheel also turns out to have an answer.
  • Asked for a question, why are Noah and Allie's kids so cold-hearted, asking to leave her there and check on her once in a while, and needing it explained that their dad wants to be with their mom? — Andrew Gruttadaro
  • The kids are defended: it is complicated when your mom does not recognize you, elder care is very complicated and society has no answers, so it is an unanswerable question for everyone.
Share this discussion More Probably Unanswerable Questions answers