* ClicheStorm: Detractors will say that the book and the movie are all but original.
* CriticalDissonance: Ordinary moviegoers call this one of the best romances of the 2000s, but the critics seem more divided.
* DesignatedHero:
** Some viewers couldn't sit well with Noah guilt-tripping Allie into going out with him by threatening to kill himself otherwise. Given that it's legally considered psychological abuse, they may have a point. This is a shame, because said scene doesn't exist in the book, and in every other scene, he seems to be a perfectly nice if brutally honest guy.
** We're also supposed to be perfectly okay with Allie cheating on a fiancé who clearly adores her. To the point where he still wants to marry her, even after she confesses to him.
* SignatureScene: Allie and Noah making out in a rainstorm. It's been referenced and parodied a thousand times, and it's even on the poster.
* TearJerker:
** The scene with Allie and her mother after reuniting with Noah. Her mother takes her out to a mining area where she tells Allie that one of the workers is an ex-boyfriend of hers. Not only that, she makes it clear that even though she married someone else and loves him, she still loves this man just like Allie loves Noah. What's worse is that the reason why they aren't together is because her father didn't like her boyfriend and they were caught when they tried to run away together. It probably made her realize she turned out like her father, trying to stop her daughter from being with the one she truly loves.
** Allie's sundowning incident after she and Noah get a mere five minutes of happiness, with him breaking down as he watches the staff try to restrain and calm her. A bit of FridgeHorror when you realize he's probably gone through this countless times.
%%* TheWoobie: Poor Lon.
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