Amnesia movies are not absolutely fettered to reality, nor should they be. Hollywood amnesia, as has been frequently noted, is the most flexible and variable of illnesses. Nevertheless, The Vow (2012) breaks new ground in want of integrity. One reviewer called it a "heartless, soulless jumble," but that's letting it off easy.
A young woman, played by perky Rachel McAdams, suffers an automobile accident and forgets the five years of her marriage to a young man, played by wooden mumbling Channing Tatum. The couple stumbles around for ninety bumbling minutes but eventually he wins her back in cliche date-movie, rom-com tearjerk fashion. Loss of memory, which in any close-to-reality situation would be psychologically troublesome if not utterly disabling, proves to be of no more consequence than the loss of a pair of shoes or eyeglasses. Simplistic, superficial, offensive.
The film advertises itself as based on real events. Loosely based, I'd say, because in actual fact, there was an accident and she suffered loss of memory, but he had an affair, the marriage crumbled, and they divorced. But that was in another country, one in which real human beings might dwell.
"No redeeming characteristics" says another reviewer. The film is especially not redeemed by expressionless Channing Tatum, who fumbles and garbles a higher percentage of his dialog than any actor in the history of Hollywood.
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