Nicholas Sparks movies are a staple of the romantic drama genre, and Sparks' books about love, loss, and the importance of handwritten letters have continued to inspire feature-length movies. But there are several plot points in these films that you likely missed the first time around.
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00:00If you fancy yourself a fan of Nicholas Sparks' melodrama, you're likely well-acquainted with
00:05his fascination with the written word.
00:07In Nicholas Sparks' land, you can bet your bottom dollar that there's a stash of love
00:10letters waiting to be discovered so that they can provide invaluable lessons about life,
00:14love, and, as The Longest Ride taught us, an old man's love life.
00:18The Longest Ride centers on the modern-day relationship between Luke and Sophia, as well
00:21as the decades-old romance between Ira and Ruth, which is set against the backdrop of
00:25World War II.
00:26Sophia soon discovers Ira's collection of love letters between him and his late wife,
00:30and loses herself in their epic love story.
00:32But all we can focus on is the fact that Ruth and Ira were sending all these letters to
00:36each other while both living in the same small town.
00:39Why didn't they just meet up and talk?
00:41Maybe we should mail a letter to Sparks to ask him.
00:44Hey!
00:45Keep it.
00:46While we're on the subject of The Longest Ride, let's talk about Ira's secret stash
00:52of money.
00:54Technically, it's actually an assortment of valuable paintings from his personal art collection.
00:57But when translated to cold, hard cash, these works of art equal approximately $200 million.
01:03Now that's something to write to your neighbor about.
01:05As the movie nears its end, Luke and Sophia, who have been broken up for some time, each
01:09receive invitations to attend the auction for the recently deceased Ira's estate.
01:13In a surprise twist during the auction, it's revealed that Luke has inherited the entirety
01:17of Ira's collection.
01:18Cut to one year later, and suddenly the once-estranged Luke and Sophia are now husband and wife.
01:23Maybe they found solid middle ground and finally moved past their differences, or maybe
01:26the $200 million was enough money to make them forget they ever had differences in the
01:30first place.
01:32There's lots to remember from A Walk to Remember.
01:34There's Mandy Moore's bangs, as well as the crush we all had on Shane West as Landon,
01:38the bad boy-turned-sweetheart, and of course, we can't forget Peter Coyote's strangely unplaceable
01:43accent.
01:44We're so proud of you.
01:45Jamie would have been proud of you, too.
01:49However, one thing we can't seem to recall happening in this movie is the walk.
01:52You know, the one that's right there in the title.
01:55Just where is this mysterious walk, and why is it noteworthy?
01:59According to Nicholas Sparks' website, the title for the novel came from a line delivered
02:02by Landon regarding Jamie walking down the aisle on their wedding day.
02:05It was, I remember thinking, the most difficult walk anyone ever had to make, in every way,
02:10A Walk to Remember.
02:11In the novel, Jamie's illness leaves her barely able to walk by the time she weds Landon,
02:15and she has to be helped from her wheelchair before walking to exchange vows.
02:19But apparently, this wasn't exactly a plot point to remember.
02:22Because the movie version of Jamie doesn't seem to have any trouble walking toward her
02:25soon-to-be husband, and there's no wheelchair in sight on their wedding day.
02:29I've always wanted to live in a small town, so…
02:33Well, you found one.
02:35Safe Haven seems typical and formulaic enough.
02:37Erin, played by Julianne Hough, escapes from an abusive relationship to a small town, befriends
02:42her neighbor Joe, played by Cobie Smulders, and quickly falls in love with single father
02:45and widower Alex, played by Josh Duhamel.
02:48However, a curveball is thrown at the end of the movie, when Alex gives Erin a letter
02:51written by his late wife for the woman who he'd eventually move on with.
02:55Included with the letter is a photo of Alex's wife, who's a dead ringer for Joe.
02:59We love a twist ending as much as anyone else, but we do have some questions.
03:03Erin first meets Joe when she catches her outside her new house, peering through an
03:06open window.
03:07Joe is noticeably startled when she's caught, leaving us to wonder why she chose to appear
03:11in human form if she just wanted to snoop.
03:13Aren't ghosts usually a bit more stealthy?
03:15Also, Joe has multiple outfit changes throughout the film, which can only mean one thing.
03:20There is life after death.
03:21Fashion is your life.
03:23The Best of Me features a decade-spanning romance, star-crossed lovers, and the tragic
03:27death of a main character on the cusp of finally attaining lifelong love and happiness.
03:31Starring James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan as Dawson and Amanda, the film showcases their
03:35sweet and tragic love story from the moment they fall in love to the moment Amanda tearfully
03:39reads the letter Dawson wrote to her before he's killed.
03:42As sweet as this movie is, it's impossible to watch modern-day Amanda and Dawson walking
03:46outside their cute little cottage and not yell at them to watch for snakes.
03:50These two are so wrapped up in each other that they don't think twice about walking
03:53barefoot in overgrown grass or jumping into a murky brown lake that is almost certainly
03:57home to a water moccasin or two.
03:59We're pretty sure this means that The Best of Me qualifies as an edge-of-your-seat thriller.
04:022012's The Lucky One, starring Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling, has a total running time
04:06of 100 minutes.
04:08That's just over an hour and a half.
04:10To break it down even more, that's time you could spend in your comfy house clothes binge-watching
04:13at least three episodes of your favorite TV show.
04:16This isn't meant as a total diss on The Lucky One.
04:18All we're saying is that one tiny and painfully obvious character choice could have easily
04:22cut the running time in half.
04:24The plot follows Efron as a Marine named Logan, who finds a mysterious photo of a woman during
04:28combat, and he credits it with saving his life.
04:31He seeks out the woman upon his return, but instead of telling her his reason for showing
04:34up, he lets her believe that he's just some random dude who's new to town.
04:38The drama that unfolds throughout the rest of the film is a direct result of Logan's
04:42secret, which honestly never really needed to be a secret in the first place.
04:46Sometimes the questions are complicated, and the answers are simple."
04:51If you're looking for a nice little Sunday afternoon cry, you truly can't go wrong with
04:54a re-watch of 1999's Message in a Bottle.
04:57However, if you're looking for a few nautical safety tips, you'll definitely want to give
05:01this romantic drama a pass.
05:03Kevin Costner stars as Garrett, a shipbuilding sailor and widower, who finds himself stuck
05:07in the throes of grief following the death of his wife.
05:10Even if you haven't seen the film, you can probably guess that our sad sailor eventually
05:13learns to love once again, thanks to Robin Wright's Teresa.
05:16Alas, their budding romance is cut short when Garrett decides to go sailing despite an impending
05:21storm, ultimately drowning at sea while rescuing a family.
05:24Considering that the movie presents Garrett as an extremely knowledgeable, experienced
05:28sailor, we're going to have to call shenanigans here.
05:31There's no way he would have set sail straight into a monster storm right after realizing
05:34his love for Teresa.
05:35"'This is who I am.
05:37This place, this is where I belong.'"
05:40Will will just choose to believe instead that he actually survived and eventually found
05:44his way to some castaway-like island.
05:46Before they got married and then separated, Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth first met while
05:50auditioning for the lead roles in 2010's The Last Song.
05:53And while their on-and-off journey has been an interesting one to follow, we're still
05:57confused about a plot point in the movie that started it all.
06:00At the end of The Last Song, Will, played by Hemsworth, tells Ronnie, played by Cyrus,
06:04that he's thinking about transferring colleges to be closer to her while she attends Juilliard.
06:07You heard she got into Juilliard, right?
06:09No.
06:10She says she's not going.
06:12But Will's not just thinking of maybe transferring to any old school, he's thinking of maybe
06:16transferring to Columbia.
06:18That's right, he's maybe considering a super-competitive, incredibly expensive Ivy League university
06:23in Manhattan.
06:24While Will is shown to be an intelligent guy with big aspirations, nothing in the movie
06:27indicates that he has the academic record or financial ability to leave small-town Georgia
06:32and support himself at Columbia.
06:34And that's if he even gets in.
06:35But judging by Ronnie's reaction, at least, she seems to think it's a sure thing.
06:39So consider this our official request for a sequel called The Last Song 2, The Ballad
06:43of Student Loans.