The Vow 2012

Kathleen Murphy, MSN Movies: A Valentine Day's gift swaddled in sanitized Saran wrap, The Vow is a pretty package of sweets, sealed off from the corrupting air of reality. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The movie's commitment to the blandest possible presentation of its central problem starts to seem perverse after a while. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: All of these people seem like lazy sketches rather than developed characters; it's tempting to wonder how moving "The Vow" might have been if they'd been allowed to breathe and live. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: It's unashamedly escapist, but a turn for the serious as The Vow nears the finish line only underscores its essential silliness... Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: "The Vow" serves as a series of precise if obvious moments and emotional cues we must endure en route to the inevitable reconciliation, complete with an intrusively heart-tugging score and too much explanatory voiceover from Tatum. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It's quite watchable date-night cheese - the kind of movie you can simultaneously snort at and enjoy. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Most of the time it plays like the movie adaptation of a Land's End catalogue, making monogamy seem essential by associating it with high-end interior design. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The two stars look dewy and glossy and unexceptional, bound together less by chemistry than by the ministrations of a hard-working costume designer. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: More than willing to comfort anyone with a fuzzy grasp on real-world romance that the pretty people will make it through somehow, with no scars too deep. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Earnest hokum of this nature has become increasingly rare. And for a reason. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: This is a movie that leaves you wanting more. To care more, to cry more, to love more. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: If I get in a car accident, suffer a traumatic head injury, and emerge from a coma to find Channing Tatum telling me that he's my husband, I'm just going to go with it. Even if I don't recognize him. Read more

Joseph M. Amodio, Newsday: Tatum is unusually expressive; Speedman, both hiss-worthy and sympathetic. But McAdams is the real draw. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: As usual, Channing Tatum looks sweet and dull and, in most scenes, slightly confused. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: McAdams is a beautiful blank. There's not a single moment when her character feels real, or as if she genuinely has anything at stake. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: Sucsy works within the trappings of a typical cheesy romance but finds realism in the details and the banter. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The Vow is a welcome antidote to cynicism, and a bracing tonic that proves love hasn't disappeared from the film experience completely. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: McAdams and Tatum aren't exactly thespian heavyweights, but even if they were, there isn't much they can do with this hokey melodrama... Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This film, with its would-be crowd-pleasing contrivances and rote adherence to formula, offers almost no redeeming characteristics. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: 'The Vow' is inspired by a true and wonderful story, but that doesn't make the fictionalized version any less ridiculous. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It's pleasant enough as a date movie, but that's all. Read more

Louis B. Parks, San Francisco Chronicle: "The Vow" is a cinematic box of candy wrapped in bright red cellophane. Like any box of chocolates, you have to bite a lot of bad centers to get to the few good ones. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The best thing in the film is McAdams, who moves through her post-amnesia scenes with a plausible mix of good humor and wariness. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: The kind of featherweight fare that is enjoyed in the moment and forgotten soon after the end credits roll. Read more

Leah Rozen, TheWrap: The strong stench from The Vow is likely to overwhelm the smell of popcorn in movie theaters this weekend. Read more

Anna Smith, Time Out: Both stars make decent use of the script's gently humorous potential. As a superficial look at a weird situation, it's reasonably diverting. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Not even Channing Tatum's bare bum, clearly a Hail Mary pass lobbed at the ladies in the theatre, can distract from the turgidly sappy goings on in The Vow. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The Vow promises tried-and-true rom-com formula and delivers, treading in sappy, cliche-ridden turf. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: With its stately crane shots and plaintive score, The Vow feels as unabashedly sentimental as those melodramas, but resists the cloying impulse to manufacture tragedy for easy tears. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: The Vow makes the least of its concept, refusing to acknowledge that a love need not be perfect to merit holding on to. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: It's a shame things are so black and white, because the movie has more promise - and more laughs - than trailers suggest. Read more