I’m not a fan of the sappy, clichéd romance movie. I mean it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in love with Ryan Gosling, but I absolutely hate “The Notebook.” While I’m on that trail, let’s talk about the movie I went to see today — “The Vow,” starring Channing Tatum and, ironically, Nicholas Spark alum Rachel McAdams. Again, I am not a fan of the sappy, clichéd romance movie. But I am a big fan of movies based on true stories, and “The Vow” falls into that category.

McAdams plays Paige, a sculptor who is estranged from her family. Tatum plays Paige’s husband Leo, who runs a recording studio. In the first five minutes of the film, they are involved in a car accident that costs Paige five years’ worth of her memory. When she wakes up, she doesn’t know she’s married, she certainly doesn’t know Leo and she thinks she’s still engaged to a former flame, not to mention she thinks she is still close with her deceptive parents.

The rest of the movie goes back and forth between Leo coercing Paige to regain her memory through romantic dates and her parents trying to pull her into the life she left behind. All of this is made more complicated by family secrets that will inevitably change everything and, at the same time, nothing.

“The Vow” definitely doesn’t escape aspects of the typical romance movie. Almost every scene features one of the two lead actors crying or screaming or saying, “I love you.” But “The Vow” does get two small things right. Leo and Paige’s romance is colorfully decorated with different restaurants, monthly trips to the lake, vows written on menus and quirky habits that make experiencing their romance sweet and worthwhile.

The story itself is inspiring, and the fact that it’s based on true events makes it all the more poignant. Despite all the typical family drama, the overdone love triangle and the never-ending teary scenes, “The Vow” promises an uplifting message — what is meant to be will find its way, whether it happens once, twice or over a lifetime.