By Kevin Cott

The weekend before Valentine’s Day proved to be a solid return for romance. 

The Vow was the top earner at the box office, and though it is oftentimes a chore to sit through, it proves to be a mostly inoffensive date night flick. The film’s protagonists are two awfully nice people who make us hope in anticipation that they will wind up together for the second time.

The two squeaky clean 20- or 30-somethings are Paige and Leo, a young married Chicago couple. She’s a law school dropout turned artist who angers her parents by moving into the city and enrolling in the School of Art Institute.  Her sculptures fetch a high price from local office buildings and galleries, but no matter, Paige’s (Rachael McAdams) parents had different plans for her.

She is happily married to Leo (Channing Tatum), who has opened an independent recording studio, and shares living quarters with a few thinly drawn “musician type” flat-mates.

The point The Vow wants us to understand quite early on is that Paige and Leo are very much in love. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that their romance is the kind that cheap paperbacks are made of, but hey, they’re happy. Forget any believable chemistry they might have, Tatum and McAdams look good together.  

The film opens on a snowy night in which the two are rear-ended by a truck. He wakes up in the hospital, she remains in a coma until her brain swelling subsides. When she wakes up, she has no memory of ever being married to Leo.

Indeed, Paige seems to think that she is the same person she was before her life changed. She thinks she still lives with her parents in the suburbs (Sam Neill and Jessica Lange), and is still engaged to Jeremy (Scott Speedman).  

As you might assume, Paige’s parents approve of Jeremy, but not Leo. The audience is left mystified because Leo is an awfully nice guy. He persuades Paige to come home and try and piece back the memories that have left her, but in her mind, it is if she is living with a complete stranger.

The credits tell us that The Vow is based upon real life events surrounding an actual married couple. While that may be true, what we are subjected to in The Vow seems more like tru-ish events. 

The script is so well behaved that we hardly sense the anguish that surely must stem from the results of such a tragedy. It might be the dialogue, or the fact that Tatum simply can’t deliver as a leading everyman here. I didn’t sense he had any real chemistry with McAdams, and didn’t for a second believe he was the kind of guy that knew the ins and outs of a recording studio.

As for Paige, McAdams treads water through familiar territory. The fact is, we know McAdams is incredibly likable, but the script takes it for granted that her character must still do something likable, or interesting. 

What Paige does and doesn’t seem to remember depends precisely upon where the screenwriters wish this story to go. I found it more than curious that Paige was able to remember all kinds of events up to her moving to the city, and nothing regarding the time she spent while Leo was pursuing her.  

The idea of a spouse losing his or her memory and then having to be courted all over again makes for a terribly romantic idea, but its execution here is devoid of anything remotely insightful. The Vow might be a harmless crime – it certainly won’t leave you emotionally drained. But then again, that might be just what you’re looking for on a date night.