Today on TV: Critics hate the film, but audiences love it! Ryan Gosling in one of the biggest romantic hits of the last 20 years

This is the story of “Like a single day” on RTL 2

Allie (Gena Rowlands) suffers from dementia and therefore forgets more and more important events from her past. To sweeten the old lady’s day at the nursing home and perhaps bring back her memories, a retired businessman (James Garner) reads to her from an old notebook of stories from Allie’s childhood:

At the age of 17, the girl from a good family (Rachel McAdams) meets the smart but poverty-stricken Noah (Ryan Gosling). The two quickly fall in love and experience a stormy, romantic summer full of passion.

However, Allie’s (Joan Allen, David Thornton) parents resist the connection and the couple separate. Again and again Noah writes his beloved letters. However, these are intercepted by her family and never reach her. While Noah goes to the front of World War II, she meets smart soldier Lon (James Marsden) at home. Years later, Noah and Allie meet again…

“Like a single day” divides the spirits

That’s not always the case, of course, but for most of the movies we’ve reviewed, the number of stars awarded in the reviews and subsequent ratings from our users aren’t too far apart. With “Like a single day” it is different.

While our official FILMSTARTS review only awards a lukewarm two stars, your average is twice that, namely four strong stars. Among other things, we call the whole thing a “paint-by-numbers drama” and accuse it of being formulaic. Your short reviews, on the other hand, use terms like “dreamy”, “moving” or “beautiful” one after the other.

Millions of Like a Single Day fans around the world agree with you. Our author Claudia Holz is anything but alone with her rather negative assessment. Much of the local and English-speaking critics had little good to say about director Nick Cassavetes’ (“John Q. – Desperate Fury”) film when it came out. In the reviews collected on the American website Rotten Tomatoes, fragments of quotes such as “cliché”, “melodramatic”, “overly sentimental” or “awkwardly manipulative” keep cropping up.

In the end, Cassavetes and his then very young stars Gosling and Rachel McAdams (“Doctor Strange”) couldn’t care less about the critics. Then the paying audience made “Like a Single Day” a huge success. With a budget of $29 million, the film grossed $117.8 million at the US box office alone. Add to that the revenue from the rest of the world plus millions and millions of DVDs, Blu-rays and VHS tapes sold since the release of home theater.

*