Channing Tatum Jerks Tears in 'Dear John'

Love in letters.

In the new drama Dear John, filmmakers are trying to turn on the water works. Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried star as lovers torn apart by war, with only their letters to make it through.

Fans of The Notebook, the weepy 2004 drama based on a Nicholas Sparks book of the same name, will undoubtedly enjoy Dear John. The film stars Channing Tatum as a soldier who meets a young and beautiful woman (Amanda Seyfried) while he is on leave from duty.

Over the course of the next seven years, her letters are the only things that keep him going. But pretty soon the pair finds that their correspondence has led them down a path they never could have forseen.

Reviews for the film have been less than stellar so far. J. R. Jones of the Chicago Reader called it a "terminally sappy romance," while the Arizona Republic's Bill Goodykoontz said "Dear John still will move you deeply - if you're a 12-year-old girl."

However, one aspect of the film getting good reviews is Amanda Seyfried. Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com calls Seyfried's performance "lovely."

"Her character may be sweet," says Zacharek, "but she's also marvelously direct, two qualities that Seyfried holds in balance perfectly."