“The Vow” is based on a book written by Kim and Krickitt Carpenter. The book is powerful as it opens with how they met, their blossoming romance, and subsequent marriage. Then the reader learns of a tragic accident which left them both in bad shape and took away Krickitt’s recent memory. She no longer recognized her husband Kim. The couple has disagreements as Kim helps “coach” Krickitt during her physical therapy. He pushes her and she doesn’t appreciate it. Eventually, he comes to realize that he must court her all over again, that he can’t be her coach but must be her support. They grow in their “new” relationship and they eventually renew their vows.
The movie changes things around a bit, and much of it is not for the better. In this one the couple’s names are Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams) and the film cuts to the accident not far into the opening. We don’t get to see how this couple became a couple and enjoyed their romantic beginnings. By film’s end, we don’t see a renewing of vows either and I think these are two critical mistakes in both the front and end of this picture.
The film contains a few laughs including a scene in which Paige is eating bacon for breakfast and a surprised Leo tells her she doesn’t eat bacon. “Oh”, she says, and she takes it out of her mouth! Despite good performances by both leads (Channing Tatum conveys Leo’s pain of not having his own wife recognize him very well) the content of the film is strong, including strong language, and sadly does not focus at all on the couple’s Christian faith, a theme which was a backbone of the book. Therefore, due to the language, we are unable to award our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal to this movie.
