The Rescue (2012)

The Rescue, some syrupy froth from Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle), charts the romance of Denise Holton, a struggling single mother with a learning-disabled son, and Taylor McAden, a volunteer fireman who keeps emotion at bay by risking his life rescuing others. These two find themselves explicably drawn to one another (he's lean, sensitive, and rugged; she's beautiful, vulnerable, yet resilient), especially when Taylor develops an instant father-son bond with Denise's boy. Even if you can get past the screamingly obvious ending that is predictable from, oh, about page 12, it quickly becomes clear that the only thing that could salvage this sentimental blather is a cinematic reteaming of George Clooney and mom-for-hire Michelle Pfeiffer, with lots of special F/X thrown in for the heroic action scenes. C-