Amanda Seyfried Dear John Love Scene (2010)

A college girl on spring break, a soldier, and a glass of wine spilled at exactly the right moment for a wardrobe change. Hollywood subtlety at its most American.

Dear John (2010): Savannah and John’s love scene (1m44s)

Dear John (2010): Savannah and John, a later night together (22s)

What happens in Dear John

Savannah Curtis is a college student on spring break when she meets John, a soldier played by Channing Tatum. Seyfried was 22, shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, for about ten weeks from October 2008. It was a hit, and by Chloe standards it asked almost nothing of her wardrobe, which is why people still land here hoping for more than they’re going to get.

The love scene with Tatum is the one everybody remembers: his bare back, her bare breasts, nipples tucked under his arms the way studio romances like their risk managed. Kids-In-Mind also flags the wine spill, when she changes her top and a man sees her from the waist up; we get bare shoulders, and the rest stays obscured. Mr. Skin clocks two quieter jeans moments, partial butt above a low waistband as she opens a closet at 00:24:30 and again at 00:48:02 while they embrace, plus underwear at 00:59:16 for the completists. It’s romance-novel nudity: all implication and strategically placed forearms, and somehow that’s enough to keep a certain kind of man (hello) rewinding ever since.

Fifth on the Amanda Seyfried hub, and a reminder that multiplex heat and Mr. Skin heat are different currencies. Seven weeks later Chloe hit US theaters and spent the other one; see Seyfried and Moore in Chloe.