Dear John

Dear Reader, I'm so sorry, gulp, but "Dear John" is like a very bad relationship with a very beautiful someone: You want it to work, you truly do, but the pain, the guilt, the boredom, the CW soundtrack . . . . And I wish I could say it's not them, it's me, but I really think it's them. The film's very beautiful someones are the ab-riffic Channing Tatum as John, whom director Lasse Hallström wisely keeps either shirtless or in tight tees for most of the film, and that golden girl Amanda Seyfried (" Big Love," "Mamma Mia!"

Why We Broke Up A Novel Daniel Handler, with illustrations by Maira Kalman Little, Brown: 354 pp., $19.99, ages 15 and older Most of us have been there, experiencing the unprecedented high of a first love followed by the debilitating low when it crumbles. But few of these tragic trajectories have been written about as poignantly as in "Why We Broke Up. " The young-adult debut from Daniel Handler, a bestselling author better known as Lemony Snicket, is an illustrated novel that is its own series of unfortunate events, chronicling a brief but intense teen relationship gone wrong.

Based on the novel by Nicolas Sparks, director Lasse Hallström's romantic drama "Dear John" follows the relationship between Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) and soldier John Tyree (Channing Tatum) as they communicate through love letters during seven years of military deployments. For John's scenes in the Middle East and Africa, livestock coordinator Dan Hydrick provided exotic background animals to give a sense of place. But for Savannah's scenes in the United States involving a young autistic character, Hydrick tackled an even more unusual challenge: teaching a young autistic actor, Braeden Reed, to ride a horse.

Some actors like to tout their methods. Others boast of roles they've pulled off. Channing Tatum prefers a little more candor. "I'm never going to be the best actor," Tatum said over lunch last week at the Smokehouse restaurant in Burbank. "I'm just not. But I will work harder than anyone out there. " He's living up to that pledge. In the last year, the 30-year-old former fashion model has appeared on the big screen as a lovelorn soldier ("Dear John"), a maniacal but oddly sensitive Casanova with a happy-face tattoo in a private place ("The Dilemma")

"Dear John" rode a surprisingly strong wave of support from the fickle but fervent teenage girl audience to the highest opening ever for a movie on Super Bowl weekend, knocking "Avatar" out of the top spot in the process. "Dear John," Hollywood's fifth adaptation of a tear-jerker Nicholas Sparks novel, sold $32.4 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada from Friday through Sunday, according to an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures. That's significantly above last week's estimates based on pre-release polling, which predicted that "Avatar" would stay ahead of the Sparks film.

Didn't it take John Robinson just about the same time to destroy the Rams as it took him to destroy the USC football program? MICHAEL HANNIN, Woodland Hills

Seemingly contradicting depositions by O.J. Simpson, Paula Barbieri says he apparently received a "Dear John" letter from her a few hours before the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman, sources said Tuesday. Simpson and his attorneys have said one reason he had no motive for the murders was that he had an ongoing relationship with Barbieri. But depositions by Barbieri seem to contradict Simpson, the sources said.

It was love at first sight for a skinny, 25-year-old book salesman named Mickey Houghton when he sighted Juliette Thompson, a comely, 20-year-old musician. That was 48 years ago, in a hotel where both of them lived in Galveston, Te Mickey and Juliette were an item, more or less, for four years. Then came World War II, duty in Europe for Mickey, and a "Dear John" letter from Juliette. The war ended and Staff Sgt. Houghton came home. Juliette was married.

"It's like the Jewish mother joke," Judd Hirsch says in answer to the question of why, after years of respect and success on the stage and in the movies, he would choose to return to the slap-it-together, often-artless world of TV sitcoms. "She gives you two ties for your birthday. You decide to wear one of them to dinner and she says, 'What's the matter with the other one?'

What a five-star farce! "Dear John" begins--and almost immediately the funny one-liners hit the fan. Premiering at 9 tonight on Channels 4, 36 and 39, it starts good, then gets very good before getting better. The somber protagonist of NBC's new comedy is teacher John Lacey (Judd Hirsch), who seeks solace in the One-to-One therapy club after his wife leaves him for his best friend. Instead of answers, though, he finds absurdity. The executive producers here are Peter Noah, Ed.

It's rare, but not unprecedented, for television shows to win Emmy Awards as a going-away present for their final season. "Everybody Loves Raymond" did it in 2005, carting off the outstanding comedy series statuette. Ditto "The Sopranos" in 2007 for drama series. With several high-profile shows, including ABC's "Lost" and Fox's "24," taking their final bows in 2010, it could happen again, though history tells us that it's far easier to bring home the gold when your show is just starting out than when it's wrapping things up. Here's an assessment of the recognition chances of some of the Emmy-caliber prime-time programs that have, or soon will, bid prime time adieu this year.

The Road Sony, $27.96; Blu-ray, $34.95 There was little chance that director John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's bestselling novel "The Road" was going to be as powerful as the book, which turns the cliché of post-apocalyptic survival into a haunting, poetic tale about fathers and sons and letting go. And sure enough, literalizing McCarthy's story on screen does rob it of some of its mystery. But Viggo Mortensen is effective as a dad trying to protect his son from ravagers in the scorched wasteland of the future, and Hillcoat skillfully conveys McCarthy's profound sense of melancholy and impending doom.

Estimated sales in the U.S. and Canada: Movie (studio) 3-day gross (millions) Percentage change from last weekend Total (millions) Days in release 1 "Shutter Island" (Paramount) $22.2 -46% $75.1 10 2 "Cop Out" (Warner Bros.) $18.6 NA $18.6 3 3 "The Crazies" (Overture/Participant /Imagenation)

"Dear John" rode a surprisingly strong wave of support from the fickle but fervent teenage girl audience to the highest opening ever for a movie on Super Bowl weekend, knocking "Avatar" out of the top spot in the process. "Dear John," Hollywood's fifth adaptation of a tear-jerker Nicholas Sparks novel, sold $32.4 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada from Friday through Sunday, according to an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures. That's significantly above last week's estimates based on pre-release polling, which predicted that "Avatar" would stay ahead of the Sparks film.

Based on the novel by Nicolas Sparks, director Lasse Hallström's romantic drama "Dear John" follows the relationship between Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) and soldier John Tyree (Channing Tatum) as they communicate through love letters during seven years of military deployments. For John's scenes in the Middle East and Africa, livestock coordinator Dan Hydrick provided exotic background animals to give a sense of place. But for Savannah's scenes in the United States involving a young autistic character, Hydrick tackled an even more unusual challenge: teaching a young autistic actor, Braeden Reed, to ride a horse.

Dear Reader, I'm so sorry, gulp, but "Dear John" is like a very bad relationship with a very beautiful someone: You want it to work, you truly do, but the pain, the guilt, the boredom, the CW soundtrack . . . . And I wish I could say it's not them, it's me, but I really think it's them. The film's very beautiful someones are the ab-riffic Channing Tatum as John, whom director Lasse Hallström wisely keeps either shirtless or in tight tees for most of the film, and that golden girl Amanda Seyfried (" Big Love," "Mamma Mia!"

After holding the top spot for seven consecutive weeks, it looks like "Avatar" will reign one final time over Super Bowl weekend. Despite rising interest among its core audience of teenage and twentysomething women, romantic tear-jerker "Dear John" appears on track to open just shy of director James Cameron's blockbuster, which could be No. 1 at the box office for the eighth consecutive weekend. According to people who have seen pre-release polling of moviegoers, "Dear John" could sell a little more than $20 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada.

"Dear John" A soldier and a college student fall in love and correspond over the next few years through love letters. "District 13: Ultimatum" An elite police officer and a reformed vigilante join forces to bring peace to the neighborhood. "From Paris With Love" A low-level operative for the CIA finds himself the target of a crime ring. "Frozen" Three snowboarders are stranded on a chairlift dangling high off the ground. "Jackie Chan in Shinjuku Incident" Chinese illegal immigrants fight for a better life in Tokyo.