(Photo by Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection)

Nicholas Sparks Movies Ranked

We’re ranking by Tomatometer all the movies from writer Nicholas Sparks, including A Walk to Remember, The Lucky One, and the romantic classic The Notebook, which got its own ‘Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong’ podcast episode.

Safe Haven (2013)
14%

Adjusted Score: 18864%

Critics Consensus: Schmaltzy, predictable, and melodramatic, Safe Haven also suffers from a ludicrous plot twist, making for a particularly ignominious Nicholas Sparks adaptation.

Synopsis: Katie Feldman (Julianne Hough) moves to a small town on the North Carolina coast, determined to make a new life... [More]

Starring: Josh Duhamel, Julianne Hough, Cobie Smulders, David Lyons

Directed By: Lasse Hallström

The Last Song (2010)
20%

Adjusted Score: 24480%

Critics Consensus: As shamelessly manipulative as any Nicholas Sparks production, The Last Song is done no favors by its miscast and overmatched star, Miley Cyrus.

Synopsis: Estranged from her father (Greg Kinnear) for a number of years, teenage Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) isn't pleased when her mother... [More]

Starring: Miley Cyrus, Greg Kinnear, Liam Hemsworth, Kelly Preston

Directed By: Julie Anne Robinson

The Lucky One (2012)
20%

Adjusted Score: 26238%

Critics Consensus: While it provides the requisite amount of escapist melodrama, The Lucky One ultimately relies on too many schmaltzy clichés to appeal to anyone not already familiar with the Nicholas Sparks formula.

Synopsis: U.S. Marine Sgt. Logan Thibault (Zac Efron) returns home from his third tour of duty in Iraq with the one... [More]

Starring: Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner, Riley Thomas Stewart

Directed By: Scott Hicks

A Walk to Remember (2002)
27%

Adjusted Score: 29106%

Critics Consensus: Though wholesome, the Mandy Moore vehicle A Walk to Remember is also bland and oppressively syrupy.

Synopsis: Set in North Carolina, "A Walk To Remember" follows the rite of passage of a jaded, aimless high school senior... [More]

Starring: Shane West, Mandy Moore, Peter Coyote, Daryl Hannah

Directed By: Adam Shankman

Dear John (2010)
28%

Adjusted Score: 33199%

Critics Consensus: Built from many of the same ingredients as other Nicholas Sparks tearjerkers, Dear John suffers from its cliched framework, as well as Lasse Hallstrom's curiously detached directing.

Synopsis: When soldier John Tyree (Channing Tatum) meets an idealistic college student, Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried), it's the beginning of a... [More]

Starring: Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins, Henry Thomas

Directed By: Lasse Hallström

Nights in Rodanthe (2008)
30%

Adjusted Score: 35358%

Critics Consensus: Derivative and schmaltzy, Nicholas Sparks' Nights in Rodanthe is strongly mottled by contrivances that even the charisma of stars Diane Lane and Richard Gere can't repair.

Synopsis: When Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane) arrives at the coastal town of Rodanthe, N.C., her life is in chaos. There, she... [More]

Starring: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Christopher Meloni, Viola Davis

Directed By: George C. Wolfe

Message in a Bottle (1999)
32%

Adjusted Score: 31906%

Critics Consensus: Handsome-looking but dramatically inert, Message in a Bottle maroons a formidable cast in a trite romance that lacks spark.

Synopsis: During her morning jog on the beach, journalist Theresa Osborne (Robin Wright Penn) discovers a bottle protruding from the sand.... [More]

Starring: Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, Paul Newman, John Savage

Directed By: Luis Mandoki

Deliverance Creek (2014)
50%

Adjusted Score: 20483%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A widow (Lauren Ambrose) resorts to desperate measures to protect her three children and her land during the Civil War.... [More]

Starring: Lauren Ambrose, Wes Ramsey, Yaani King, Caitlin Custer

Directed By: Jon Amiel

The Notebook (2004)
53%

Adjusted Score: 60235%

Critics Consensus: It's hard not to admire its unabashed sentimentality, but The Notebook is too clumsily manipulative to rise above its melodramatic clichés.

Synopsis: In 1940s South Carolina, mill worker Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) and rich girl Allie (Rachel McAdams) are desperately in love.... [More]

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands

Directed By: Nick Cassavetes