The Vow

Memories define us. Our entire personality and lives are stored within our minds. Every moment, every encounter has helped either build up or tear down relationships. And, after marriage, spouses are required to keep and honor their vows. What if a brain injury left your loved one with no memory of you? It’s a difficult question, and an impossible one to ponder.

Paige (Rachel McAdams) and her husband (Channing Tatum) are happily married. While at a stop sign, Paige unbuckles her seatbelt and flirts with her husband. Within moments, a truck rear ends their small car, causing Paige to smash through the windshield. Suffering a traumatic brain injury, Paige is placed in an induced coma.

Leo escapes with minor injury and waits for his wife to wake up. Upon waking, however, Paige has no recollection of him or their marriage. She isn’t even the same person. She still believes she’s in law school and on good terms with her parents. Still deeply in love with his wife, Leo is determined to make Paige fall back in love with him, even though his wife is a former version of herself.

Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum are sweet together. Upon first hearing the casting of the film, I hadn’t been too sure of the pairing, but they have believable chemistry. The film does have its charm and laughs. However, I do feel it could have been so much more. Some inconvenient characters are thrown in the mix, distracting from the main story of Paige and Leo. It felt as if not enough time was spent on Paige and Leo rebuilding their relationship.

***SPOILER*** The movie doesn’t live up to its name. Potential viewers might be led to believe that Leo and Paige, while still married, reconnect and fall in love all over again. They only go on one date and eventually get divorced. Paige finds herself by gaining her independence and by going back to school and living on her own. Once she’s built a new life for herself, she then seeks out Leo six months later. Though the film was only inspired by the true story of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, the writers should have stuck more closely to their true account. They never divorced, and while steadfastly enduring the aftereffects of the brain injury, they fall back in love.
***END SPOILER***

In all, there are at least 12 uses of foul language: 7 sh_t, 3 hells, 1 GD, 1 d_mnit. There is also some mild vulgarity with at least one use of d_ck and c_ckblock. During a car ride, Paige flirts with Leo and says that she heard one could get “preggers” if one does it in a car. When first meeting, Leo tells Paige that they have the same parking zone in college, she responds that it sounds intimate. Before they’re married, he gives her a negligee with a note that states “For Later”. She smiles at him, takes it out of the box, and puts it against herself. Though Leo does ask Paige to move in, they’re quickly married in subsequent scenes.

There are no sex scenes in the movie. In one flashback scene, the married couple are on the floor, kissing. Paige is then shown pulling up Leo’s shirt. Afterwards, they lie in bed, Paige’s entire bare back is shown and the sheets are pulled up, showing a lot of their legs. In two scenes, Paige is in her bra and panties. From habit, her husband walks around nude, his derriere is briefly shown. After they walk in on each other, he smiles and says that it’s not as if she hasn’t seen it before. Leo and Paige’s former fiancée exchange a bitter exchange about winning over Paige; she does briefly kiss her former flame.

I cautiously recommend this movie only for adults. I took the hubby with me to see it, and we had an intriguing discussion about it afterwards. We had the what-if conversation of how and what we would explain to each other if one suffered amnesia. It was a nice reminder of all of our years together. Though the movie wasn’t as heartwarming as “Fireproof”, it does somewhat provide a positive portrayal of marriage, so it’s better than a lot of movies out there.

Violence: Mild / Profanity: Moderate / Sex/Nudity: Moderate

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

• Positive
• Neutral
• Negative
• Young people