A Nicholas Sparks novel-turned-movie first shocked me with its tear-duct-draining ability in Los Angeles when I saw The Notebook. At the end of the show, even grown men in the enormous, loudly sniffling audience were grabbing for tissues. Dear John is more of the same: a far-fetched, histrionic flick from the Sultan of Sap. (Sparks probably owns stock in paper products.)

This picture didn't leave me teary-eyed, though women were crying all around me. I was just really irritated with Savannah (played by Amanda Seyfried), who jilted her soldier fiancée, John (Channing Tatum), while he was deployed.

Nonetheless, after recovering from my blinding ire and others' sobbing, I learned something from this film: Visceral reactions are often worth reexamining.

When reviewing the movie, I had to look beyond my own emotional blinders. I had to consciously step back and reevaluate the positive content in the film in order to be fair to Sparks and his cast. To her credit, Savannah does stick with her man in the end—and, OK, it's not John, but at least she's made a commitment. And John's self-sacrifice and forgiveness, which could be called redemptive and somewhat Christ-like, are worth some reflection.

Now, these things aren't enough for me to say, "Run out and see this picture!" Frankly, you're probably better off not, especially if you have a head cold. But they were enough to make me reconsider my own predispositions. I remembered anew to step back and give the benefit of the doubt.