Romance novelist Nicholas Sparks is so hot right now that Hollywood producers are optioning his grocery lists.The Richard Gere-Diane Lane swooner "Nights in Rodanthe" follows Sparks' "Message in a Bottle," "A Walk to Remember" and "The Notebook." "Dear John" is set to come out next year.His stories are daffodils and sunshine with thunder audible in the distance. His characters aren't just smitten. They're swept away by the love that turns hard hearts soft and selfish people into saints. The type that's too sweet to last."Nights in Rodanthe" sticks to the routine with the precision of a marching band. That it telegraphs its every move won't bother those who swoon over this sort of thing. Those looking for inventiveness or authenticity will just yawn. But they're in the wrong theater anyhow.Sappy love swirls during hurricane season in Rodanthe, N.C. Lane plays Adrienne, a woman on the verge of divorcing her cheating husband, despite his kids' pleas for her to take him back. She's supervising her pal's bed-and-breakfast for the weekend, primed to fall hard for the place's lone guest, a dashing, heartbroken surgeon named Paul (Richard Gere).At first they want nothing to do with one another. Paul is snippy, Adrienne standoffish. But a glass of wine here, a storm warning there and the two are flirting over dinner and free-throw-shooting canned food into the trash can.The storm only draws the couple closer. Which makes you wonder why news channels make such a big deal out of these suckers when they're just so darn romantic. What's a hurricane, if not a catalyst for cuddling? And wind only whips through storm windows so it can make Lane's hair flow as she disappears into Gere's eyes.When the story veers into grittier territory later on, it feels like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. "Nights in Rodanthe" whiffs on both sentiment and misery. It may be that there's no spark here because there's too much Sparks here.2 stars out of 4Rated: PG-13 for some sensuality.Cast: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Christopher Meloni, Viola Davis.Director: George C. Wolfe.Family call: Tame but meant for adults.Running time: 110 minutes.(Pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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