Although Cami didn’t actually see Dear John this weekend, we had a conversation about it when I told her that the film had unseated Avatar’s 7-week run atop the box office returns. The film raked in $30 million against Avatar’s $22 million haul.

Avatar’s downfall had to happen eventually, but a $30 million opening weekend for a romantic drama seems beyond the pale. Certainly some counter-programming against the Super Bowl played its part. But when I discussed the film with Cami, she felt that the film was probably buoyed by fans of Nicholas Sparks’s book from which the film was adapted. Sparks also wrote The Notebook and, well, ladies LOVE The Notebook.

“Do you think Channing Tatum had anything to do with the box office,” I asked Cami.

“That lunkhead? Uh, no,” she replied.

This was the jumping off point for today’s comic as we discussed how ridiculous and fake Channing Tatum’s name sounds. It should be noted that Cami suggested a play on words and write a punch line that somehow involved Carol Channing.

Honey, I love you. But that was never going to happen.

I mean I never want to underestimate your intelligence and assume you guys aren’t going to understand certain references. But Carol Channing? I have to draw the line somewhere.

That said, I’m pleased that Cami finds Channing Tatum as weird as I do. Not just the name, but his whole on-screen persona. Or, rather, NON persona. To us, Tatum is pure tapioca. The guy looks like he’s sleepwalking through every performance. At this point, I don’t know if his eyes being half-lidded all the time is an acting choice or a genetic anomaly. But even in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra from last summer, he looked bored. He’s firing semi-automatic weapons, running away from explosions and he looks bored.

To me, Tatum is like a jock that somehow wandered onto a movie set and someone said “HIM! Put HIM in front of the camera! He’ll do!”

I’m curious if any of you guys saw Dear John this weekend. Was it any good? How does it compare to The Notebook? Because as schmaltzy as The Notebook is at times, you’d have to be soul-dead not to be drawn in by that ending. Can Dear John hope to hold a candle to it? Any thoughts about the bland appeal of Channing Tatum?

BTW – Bonus points if you can guess the movie I’m referencing with the title of today’s strip.

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