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Everyone loves a comedy. And if you are looking for one of the funniest films in Theaters today, go see Nights in Rodanthe. Cleverly disguised as a romance in the trailer, the movie would be a tragedy if it actually fell into that category. But it’s precisely this irony, that makes the comedic nature of the film so strong. 

The best part is that this movie pays homage to all the great romances.
Shades of Rocky, as Paul is calling out “Adrienne...Adrienne” over and over again like a lost puppy dog.
Like La Rivière du hibou, there’s the old-fashion slow-motion running of two young lovers into each others arms (only in this case they were neither young, nor running through a field – but across a very short 20 foot driveway).
He cannot bring himself to leave her without one last kiss (unconcealed foreshadowing here).
The montage of love letters (portrayed through tasteless voice-overs and lovesick annotations)
The lonely endless night spent waiting for him to return to her, as the romantic dinner gets cold.
But it doesn’t end there. 
Yes, this never-ending movie continues…but I don’t want to ruin the surprise ending.

Because the characters Adrienne (Diane Lane) and Paul (Richard Gere) did not have one ounce of chemistry between them, and every moment was over-acted, the audience could care less what happens to them. This made the fact that the movie took itself so seriously, even funnier.

Adrienne is a pathetic woman who uses her family as an excuse to not live her own life and then wonders why her husband left her. She gave up her dream of being an artist and never recaptures that ☹.

An inspiring outcome of their encounter might have been that meeting Paul motivated Adrienne to live her dreams, but that would be a different movie. Alas, in this movie, she never changes. She never gains a sense of self nor stops defining herself by her relationships – no matter how shallow. And his character is just as bad (a boring, one-dimensional, cardboard cutout of a man).  Thus their “attraction” to each other is poetic.

In defense of Richard and Diane, there’s not much anyone could do to make such superficial characters attractive to the audience. They both dutifully cried on cue during the “sad” parts of the film – but there was no realty behind their tears. Since the characters were played with such simplicity, the on-the-nose expression of the sentiment felt like an attempt to spoon-feed the audience an emotional experience. As an audience member I would have been insulted, if I wasn’t so amused by the ridiculousness of it all. 

Honestly, I have never laughed so hard as I did during this movie. It makes a mockery of love and loss without knowing it.

Nights in Rodanthe is the best spoof on a romance novel that I’ve ever seen!

If you love cheese, ☺ you’ll love this Film.