New Trailer for Nicholas Sparks Adaptation ‘The Best of Me’

Whether you’re the type who swoons over epic movie romances, or a cynic who loves to make fun of them, have we got a treat for you.  Relativity’s trailer for the new Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Best of Me has it all: passionate kisses in the rain, candlelit dinners on a porch, rich girls falling for boys from the wrong side of the tracks, disapproving fathers, shirtless hunks, and James Marsden standing next to a shiny red Corvette.  What else could you ask for?

The story, which spans decades, is about a pair of high school sweethearts who are reunited after twenty years, only to have the ghosts (no, not literally) of their past threaten to keep them apart once again.  Marsden (X-Men: Days of Future Past) and Michelle Monaghan (Source Code) play the couple all grows’ed up, while Luke Bracey (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) and Liana Liberato (Trespass) play their younger versions.  If you’re asking how Marsden and Bracey – who look alike only insomuch as they’re both white and both male – can play the same person, well, you’re not alone.  Then again, if you’re planning on buying a ticket to this one, realism probably isn’t high on your list of priorities.

While Marsden and Monaghan are both familiar faces – The Best of Me actually marks Marsden’s record 237th appearance in a romantic comedy – Bracey and Liberato are up-and-coming actors hoping to become household names.  In fact, Bracey’s name may already sound familiar, as he was cast in the new remake of Point Break as Johnny Utah, the role made famous by Keanu Reeves. Liberato can be seen later this month in the drama If I Stay.

The Best of Me is the ninth Nicholas Sparks adaptation to make it to the big screen, following other notable hits like A Walk to Remember (2002), The Notebook (2004), and Dear John (2010).  While it may be easy to poke fun at the earnest and often clichéd nature of these movies, there is no denying that a sizable audience awaits their every release.  In this case, James Marsden and his red Corvette will be there to meet them on October 17th.