Romance, with all of the mystery and complications that surround it can, at its heart, be pure and simple. In New Line Cinema’s “The Notebook,” based on Nicholas Spark’s novel of the same name, simple ideas such as love at first sight and being true to your word produce a love story that is both pure and simple, but also strong and wonderful. No need for fancy twists and multiple plot lines here. Instead, this is a straightforward tale of love, laughter and longing all in one easy to follow story line.

At a nursing home overlooking a lake, an aged James Garner visits with Gena Rowlands and reads to her aloud from a notebook. The notebook tells the story of two young lovers, Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton, and the summer they met and fell in love. Garner tells Rowlands about Allie, of prominence and wealth, and Noah, the simple-living lumber mill worker, who are two socially contrasting teenagers that fall head over heels for each other, much to the chagrin of Allie’s parents. When the two young lovers are separated after the summer when Allie’s parents move to New York, Allie’s mother (Joan Allen) intervenes in Noah’s daily letters to Allie, and the two young lovers grow apart. While Garner reads, Rowlands continually wonders how the story will progress and ultimately end, and if the two lovers will find each other and live happily ever after. As the story continues, we learn much more about the couple, and the decisions and paths that they choose to make during their young lives, ultimately culminating in a final decision of the heart.

As the narrator of the story, Garner lends a flavorful sense of wisdom and caring to his dialogue to which he has become a master. His introduction and segues to and from sections of the notebook are well timed and balanced, and his onscreen emotions are a treat. Rowlands, whose character is suffering from dementia, portrays the lost and scared adult that can’t remember her past so realistically you begin to wonder if she is, in fact, acting. Together, their screen time is limited, but nonetheless emotional, and results in many tears being shed. If you don’t tear up at some point during this film, then you don’t have a romantic thread in your body.

The real powerhouses here are of course the young Noah and Allie, played by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, respectively. The chemistry between these two is simply a treat to behold, and as everyone knows, the eyes reveal the truth. While the two lovers struggle, love, lose, and everything else in between, the way these two young actors gaze upon each other throughout displays such raw passion and depth that their love is portrayed as wholly believable. While not a perfect relationship, Noah and Allie are real characters with real problems and real emotions. At the core, though, is a love that we all relate to or wish we had, and this connects the audience with these characters and makes the bond that much stronger.

The story sticks to the basics, and this is where it succeeds; it is what it sets out to be, which is a pure and simple romance. Sure, there is a love-triangle, but there are no out-of-the-blue surprises at the end, and no extraneous characters or locations, just two lovers and the story that surround them. In sticking to this fact, “The Notebook” does move a little slow at times, but still continuously keeps you engaged and interested in what’s happening. Everyone has had a first powerful love, or at least wants that perfect love, and since this theme is central to us all, the film relates to the audience and reminds us that we all like a little love, laughter, and longing. Of course, a little tugging at your heartstrings won’t hurt either.