'The Lucky One': Nicholas Sparks extends the bland ✭✭

You don't need a message in a bottle to get the word out: Author Nicholas Sparks knows his audience. Conservative moviegoers (along with plenty of centrists and liberals) take to the latest Sparks adaptation, gratefully. They know they're not going to get roughed up in terms of content, or ideologically insulted: Sparks writes best-sellers that treat military personnel with respect, churchgoing Christians likewise and red state backdrops with fond, photogenic care.

Michael Phillips

April 19, 2012