Nights in Rodanthe - Movie Review

I went to see Nights in Rodanthe last night. What? Don't look at me like that, you've seen a 'chick flick' too. Don't lie. May I continue? Thank you. Why would I want to see such a movie? I had several reasons the first and foremost being the unincorporated villages of Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo are were I spend as many weekends of the year as possible. I love the place and consider it to be as much my home as the Raleigh area. Secondly, Diane Lane. Enough said (but more later). Thirdly I was present on the island during the shooting on the movie and it was kind of exciting to see our little corner of the world so "busy" with Hollywood what-not. It was an exciting time for our little town and I wanted to see the end result of all this expenditure of Hollywood cash.

What did I think of the movie? Overall it was very good. There were some significant departures from the book some of which I thought added to the movie some of which I thought distracted. The good news is if you didn't read the book the movie stands on its own. The story is clearly presented without the gaping plot holes that sometimes accompany movies after they are optioned from books.

What did I like about the movie? There were several things. First I thought George C. Wolfe did an excellent job bringing the story to the screen. Kudo and a job well done, Mr. Wolfe. The screenplay adaption from the book deserves a nod as well, so good job Ann Peacock and John Romano. Richard Gere and Diane Lane have acted opposite one another in four of five movies and that leads to an easiness around one another that translates well onto the screen. I thought Gere and Lane made an excellent Dr. Flanner and Adrianne Willis quite frankly.

If there was an acting award to hand out in this film the award it, in my opinion, should go to Scott Glenn who played the part of Robert Torrelson. Southern accents are of so mangled on screen they make anyone familiar with them close their eyes and shake their heads in disbelief. Scott Glenn must have worked with a dialogue coach for this movie, if he didn't he has a might keen ear. He placed specific inflections into words and did not pluralize some other words where they should have been and the effect was really outstanding (i.e. the way you would hear "it cost me ten dollar and 15 cent" instead of "it cost me ten dollars and 15 cents").

To me the accent sounded much like a life-long resident of the Outer Banks sprinkled with a bit of Wilson/Greenville, NC and Greensboro, NC with plenty of Southern Virginia influence. Thank God Mr. Glenn didn't just tune into some drunken NASCAR broadcast and assume this is how we all speak later showing up at the set speaking "Drunken Redneck" and wearing an "Earnhard Forever" shirt holding a can of Coors Light in one hand a cigarette in the other thinking himself an expert on how everyone talks and acts in North Carolina.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

If you don't want to read the spoilers please stop now. Ok, what the hell route did Paul Flanner drive from Raleigh to Rodanthe? Granted in the book he went far, far out of his way visiting New Bern (home of N.in.R. author Nicholas Sparks) then taking the Swan Quarter Ferry to Ocracoke then a second ferry to Hatteras Island. In reality it would be much easier and faster to take Highway 64 to Manteo Island then South on Highway 12 like I do each and every weekend. The trip takes four hours from Raleigh, not two days. Granted the good Dr. Flanner was on his way to talk with the husband of a former patient who died on his OR table so I understand him not being in a hurry to get there. But still.
The movie footage had Dr. Flanner leaving Raleigh almost exactly how fellow Trilugger Mark Turner recently photographed the Raleigh"skyline". From there Dr. Flanner appeared to take some mystery bridge to what I suspect lead to Wilmington then magically he was transported to The Bonner Bridge, only he was driving in the wrong direction. He was then magically transported to a North Carolina ferry South of the Bonner Bridge where he then appeared on Highway 12 arriving towards Salvo from the South. Just before arrival our good doctor encountered a sandstorm the likes you may encounter in Rub' al Kali but not Hatteras Island.

Other "Things That Would Bother A Local But Otherwise You Would Never Notice" (and this isn't a complaint to the writers and director, just observations).

There are no "wild ponies" on Hatteras Island. None. Zero. There are some descendants of wild ponies are Ocracoke Island that live in enclosures and a few truly wild ponies on Shackleford Banks just South of Core Banks which, in turn, is just South of Ocracoke Island. But not on Hatteras Island. The movie used several breeds of horses to stand in as ponies but I'm not an equestrian so I really don't care about that.

JoeBob's Trading Post, at least part of the exterior and sign, make a very brief appearance. Don't blink or you might miss it. The interior of "JoeBob's" was, I suspect, the interior of the Rodanthe Pier building. It was that or it was a sound stage but it sure wasn't the interior of JoeBob's. Quite frankly I was hoping to see more of Rodanthe in the movie but your views were limited to the exterior of the rental house Serendipity (remade into the fictional Inn at Rodanthe) and JoeBob's sign. Oh well. Oh, a couple shots of the pier.

The rental house where the movie was filmed was changed as well. It's not that close to the water and the front of the house does not have a stairway that leads into the surf (a stairway such as that wouldn't survive for long, believe me). I understand the interior shots were all filmed on a sound stage in Wilmington and they did not resemble the interior ot the house in any way. I don't know because I've never stepped foot in the house.

During filming the crew was treated to a nasty nor'easter that tore at least 1/2 of the Rodanthe Pier off. So in some shots you see the old, long pier and others you see the short pier. You can tell the difference because the long pier had a rounded end where the short pier ends with the simple termination of the pier itself.

The location of the filming changed quite a bit. I believe all the "house shots" that weren't the fictional "Inn at Rodanthe" were all shot in Wilmington. This is mostly due to changes in vegetation that a local would notice. In addition the shot the morning after the "hurricane" was somewhere else because nowhere in Rodanthe can you look across any body of water larger than a puddle as see land on the other side.

Lastly I've never witnessed a crab bake and night-time live music session on the pier. It sure looked fun in the movie, though, and I hope it becomes some kind of regular tradition. I'd sure enjoy it.

All in all I'd give this movie a solid *** out of *****.