Novelist Nicholas Sparks (“The Notebook,” “Message in a Bottle,” “A Walk to Remember”) takes the blame for this dreary weepy about late middle-age romance on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. In the off-season, which is also storm season, Paul (Richard Gere) is the only guest at a preciously done-up inn. Adrienne (Diane Lane) is filling in for the proprietor, her best pal Jean (Viola Davis) who’s off on a hot date in Miami. Paying double the rate for a four-day stay, Paul is a troubled plastic surgeon from Raleigh on an errand regarding a wrongful death lawsuit. The copy of the “Medical Spanish” book on his bedside table relates to another errand that will take him to Ecuador to reconcile with his estranged son. Adrienne is dealing with a cheating ex (Christopher Meloni) who wants to come back. Their two kids want him back too, but Adrienne wants to be free. Free to fall for Paul and free to restart the art career she sacrificed for marriage and motherhood. Daytime-soap and chick-lit formulas abound. Jean recalls a “hippie potter with the great ass” from college; Adrienne’s 13-year-old daughter gets a tummy tattoo that won’t wash off; Paul and Adrienne exchange spun-sugar love letters. A sudden mudslide. A miraculous arrival of wild horses. The Rolling Stones once phrased melodrama’s bottom line as “you can’t always get what you want.” Same refrain, new scenery. George C. Wolfe (Broadway’s “Angels in America”) directs a screenplay by Ann Peacock (“Kit Kittredge: An American Girl”) and John Romano. With James Franco, Scott Glenn, Mae Whitman, Christopher Meloni and Pablo Schreiber. 97m. (Bill Stamets)
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