Nights in Rodanthe (2008)

Nights in Rodanthe is a mature romance where a troubled doctor (Richard Gere) schedules a few sanity days at a secluded beachhouse off the North Carolina coast -- in the face of an impending hurricane, it turns out. The beachhouse owner's friend (Diane Lane) has agreed to play host for the solitary guest during his getaway. As the pair clumsily prepares the towering and turreted chateau for the storm, their emotional vulnerabilities (or maybe it's just libidos) surface and they fall into each other's arms. I saw this movie in the theater in October just two months after Hurricane Ike scoured Galveston and scraped the seaboard to its east completely off the map, and having personally weathered through two hurricanes an hour north of the coast in Houston, I have to say I find it completely unrealistic for a man and a woman to be canoodling instead of fearing for their lives in such circumstances. (Three dozen former residents of Crystal Beach might agree with me but their bodies have not yet been found.) To top off this fantasy, the next morning both of their cars are still on the sand under the house -- neither flooded nor washed away in the storm surge! Furthermore, while any man can appreciate the attractions of sexual intimacy, I have to agree with my viewing partner that one-night stands convey a tawdriness that disappoints on film. Finally, this movie left major plot holes and narrative gaps by trying to suggest deeper, troubled characters without putting in the effort to portray or even mention their struggles. It's as if they're going through the motions without truly connecting much less filling a lasting need. As a result, Nights in Rodanthe is like a gussied costume drapery with nothing to show beyond the window. 3.5 stars.