You know where you are with Nicholas Sparks, and it’s a place I’m always happy to spend a couple of hours. This latest adaptation of a Sparks potboiler finds art student Sophia (Britt Robertson) falling for bull-rider Luke (Scott Eastwood, son of Clint). Their budding relationship parallels that of 91-year-old Ira (Alan Alda) and his beloved wife, Ruth, whose tale is recounted in cherished handwritten letters. In both stories, a man with no eye for art must learn to share his sweetheart’s passion, while a woman with clear-cut goals must decide how much she will sacrifice for love. Like all of Sparks’s stories it’s corny as hell, but there’s an unabashed, old-fashioned charm that gradually warms the cockles and moistens the eye. Robertson and Eastwood are cutely convincing as the mismatched pair, while Alda squeezes grouchy pathos from every schmaltz-ridden line.
