# The Notebook
*The Notebook* is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by [Nick Cassavetes](https://www.edgepedia.org/nick-cassavetes), based on the 1996 debut novel of the same name by [Nicholas Sparks](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicholas-sparks), in which an elderly man reads the story of his decades-long romance to a woman with dementia in a nursing home.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook) • [2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-notebook) It was released by [New Line Cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-line-cinema) on June 25, 2004, runs 2 hours 3 minutes, and is rated PG-13 for some sexuality.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook) • [2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-notebook)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | June 25, 2004 (wide), New Line Cinema; 2h 3m; PG-13[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook) |
| Source | 1996 debut novel by Nicholas Sparks; screenplay by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-notebook) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook/cast-and-crew) |
| Principal cast | Ryan Gosling (Noah), Rachel McAdams (Allie), James Garner (Duke), Gena Rowlands (older Allie), James Marsden (Lon), Joan Allen, Sam Shepard[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook/cast-and-crew) |
| Box office | $81.0 million in the United States; about $116 million worldwide against a $29 million budget[4](https://time.com/2927409/the-notebook-came-out-10-years-ago-but-its-not-what-you-were-watching-that-weekend/) |
| Critical reception | 55% Tomatometer (183 reviews) and 85% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; Metascore 53 from 34 critic reviews[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-notebook/) |
| Filming | Almost entirely on location in South Carolina, including Charleston, Georgetown, Edisto Island, and Cypress Gardens[6](https://www.sam-shepard.com/notebook.html) |
| Stage adaptation | Broadway musical opened March 14, 2024, with a book by Bekah Brunstetter and music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson; nominated for three Tony Awards[7](https://time.com/6899019/nicholas-sparks-interview-the-notebook-musical/) • [8](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/notebook-turns-20-director-nick-130000863.html) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and structure
The film runs on two time lines. In the present day, an elderly man called Duke ([James Garner](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-garner)) reads a love story from a worn notebook to Allie Calhoun ([Gena Rowlands](https://www.edgepedia.org/gena-rowlands)), a nursing-home resident with dementia.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-notebook/) • [9](https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/film-tv/article/3267576/notebook-20-how-ryan-gosling-and-rachel-mcadams-shot-stardom-2004-romance) The story he reads is their own. In 1940s [South Carolina](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-carolina), Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling), a poor lumber-mill worker, and Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams), the daughter of a wealthy family, fall in love over one summer.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook) Her parents disapprove of the match.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook)
The couple is separated, first by Allie's parents and then by World War II, during which Noah serves in the war.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-notebook/) In the interim Allie becomes involved with another man, Lon ([James Marsden](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-marsden)).[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook) When Noah returns to their small town years later, on the eve of Allie's marriage, the two meet again and their romance resumes.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook) In the novel on which the film is based, Noah is 31 and restoring a plantation home when Allie, 29 and engaged to another man, returns to his town.[10](https://nicholassparks.com/work/the-notebook/)
## Production
Producer Mark Johnson and Lynn Harris, then a production executive at New Line Cinema, first read Sparks's novel in galley form and spent seven years developing it as a feature film; during that time the book stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for almost a year.[6](https://www.sam-shepard.com/notebook.html) Sparks said the long path to the screen came down to development time: the first screenwriter spent about a year and a half on a draft the studio did not expect, and the project was repeatedly debated before moving forward.[11](https://www.bookreporter.com/authors/nicholas-sparks/news/talk-060104) The script went through two writers and numerous revisions, and three other directors were considered before Cassavetes was chosen.[12](https://www.tvinsider.com/1141213/) [M. Night Shyamalan](https://www.edgepedia.org/m-night-shyamalan) has said he was approached years earlier about adapting the novel; the job went to Cassavetes.[13](https://apnews.com/article/c861bb8085f599c8c2d053a435c9f564)
Cassavetes is the son of the filmmaker [John Cassavetes](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-cassavetes) and of Gena Rowlands, who plays the older Allie; commentary on the film has described it as a love letter to his mother.[9](https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/film-tv/article/3267576/notebook-20-how-ryan-gosling-and-rachel-mcadams-shot-stardom-2004-romance) • [2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-notebook) The production filmed almost entirely on location in South Carolina, in and around Charleston and Georgetown, on Edisto Island, on the Charleston Naval Base, at plantations, and at [Cypress Gardens](https://www.edgepedia.org/cypress-gardens) in Berkeley County.[6](https://www.sam-shepard.com/notebook.html) Aaron Zigman composed the original music, Robert Fraisse was the cinematographer, and Alan Heim edited.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook/cast-and-crew)
## Reception
**Critics and audiences diverged sharply.** The film earned a 55% Tomatometer from 183 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes against an 85% Popcornmeter from more than 250,000 ratings, and a Metascore of 53 from 34 critic reviews against a user score of 7.5.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-notebook/) The critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes calls it "too clumsily manipulative to rise above its melodramatic clichés" while conceding its "unabashed sentimentality" is hard not to admire.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook) [Individual](https://www.edgepedia.org/individual) reviews ranged from Joe Morgenstern's "lovely surprise" in [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-wall-street-journal) to Peter Bradshaw's Guardian verdict that it was a "grisly Titanic knockoff" with a "contrived Alzheimer's framing device".[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-notebook/) • [14](https://www.theguardian.com/film/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0%2C4267%2C1246443%2C00.html) Manohla Dargis of the Los Angeles Times called it a modest improvement on the novel but singled out the final scenes with Garner and Rowlands as "breathtaking and heartbreaking".[15](https://film.one/film/the-notebook/reviews)
At the box office the film opened modestly. On its first weekend, June 25–27, 2004, it came in fourth with $13.5 million, about half of its $29 million budget, while [Michael Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-moore)'s *Fahrenheit 9/11* set documentary records the same weekend.[4](https://time.com/2927409/the-notebook-came-out-10-years-ago-but-its-not-what-you-were-watching-that-weekend/) It went on to gross $81 million domestically and about $116 million worldwide.[4](https://time.com/2927409/the-notebook-came-out-10-years-ago-but-its-not-what-you-were-watching-that-weekend/)
## Legacy
The film's afterlife has outlasted its opening. Ten years after release, Time described it as "a repeat-viewing standby and a cultural touchstone", noting that the rain kiss in particular is constantly clipped and parodied.[4](https://time.com/2927409/the-notebook-came-out-10-years-ago-but-its-not-what-you-were-watching-that-weekend/) • [16](https://time.com/2919712/the-notebook-10th-anniversary/) The film won the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss among other awards, and Gosling and McAdams, who disliked each other during shooting, became a couple after the film and A-list stars because of it.[17](https://celac.unm.edu/assets/documents/about_celac_newsletter6.pdf) • [9](https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/film-tv/article/3267576/notebook-20-how-ryan-gosling-and-rachel-mcadams-shot-stardom-2004-romance)
The story has continued to be adapted. A Broadway musical with a book by Bekah Brunstetter and music and lyrics by [Ingrid Michaelson](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingrid-michaelson) opened on March 14, 2024, using three sets of actors to play Noah and Allie across their lives; it received three Tony Award nominations.[7](https://time.com/6899019/nicholas-sparks-interview-the-notebook-musical/) • [8](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/notebook-turns-20-director-nick-130000863.html) Retrospective commentary has also revisited the central relationship critically, with some viewers and writers arguing that Noah and Allie's courtship, including the Ferris-wheel ultimatum and constant fighting, reads as unhealthy by contemporary standards.[16](https://time.com/2919712/the-notebook-10th-anniversary/)
The title is shared by an unrelated 2013 film, *The Notebook* (*Le Grand Cahier*), a Hungarian World War II drama directed by János Szász based on the novel by Ágota Kristóf.[18](https://www.sonyclassics.com/thenotebook/)
## References
1. [The Notebook, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook)
2. [The Notebook, Common Sense Media review](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-notebook)
3. [The Notebook: Full Cast & Crew, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notebook/cast-and-crew)
4. [The Notebook Came Out 10 Years Ago, Time](https://time.com/2927409/the-notebook-came-out-10-years-ago-but-its-not-what-you-were-watching-that-weekend/)
5. [The Notebook Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-notebook/)
6. [The Notebook production notes, Sam Shepard official site](https://www.sam-shepard.com/notebook.html)
7. [Nicholas Sparks Reflects on The Notebook's Legacy as the Musical Comes to Broadway, Time](https://time.com/6899019/nicholas-sparks-interview-the-notebook-musical/)
8. ["The Notebook" turns 20, Yahoo Entertainment](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/notebook-turns-20-director-nick-130000863.html)
9. [The Notebook at 20, South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/film-tv/article/3267576/notebook-20-how-ryan-gosling-and-rachel-mcadams-shot-stardom-2004-romance)
10. [The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks official site](https://nicholassparks.com/work/the-notebook/)
11. [Author Talk: The Notebook, Bookreporter.com](https://www.bookreporter.com/authors/nicholas-sparks/news/talk-060104)
12. [Nicholas Sparks Reflects on 'The Notebook' 20 Years Later, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/1141213/)
13. [M. Night Shyamalan's latest plot twist? Teaming with Nicholas Sparks, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/c861bb8085f599c8c2d053a435c9f564)
14. [The Notebook review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0%2C4267%2C1246443%2C00.html)
15. [The Notebook (2004) critic reviews, film.one](https://film.one/film/the-notebook/reviews)
16. [9 Reasons The Notebook Still Sucks a Decade Later, Time](https://time.com/2919712/the-notebook-10th-anniversary/)
17. [CELAC Newsletter, University of New Mexico](https://celac.unm.edu/assets/documents/about_celac_newsletter6.pdf)
18. [The Notebook (Le Grand Cahier), Sony Pictures Classics](https://www.sonyclassics.com/thenotebook/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2003 to 2004 › Titles M to Y*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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