A Journal for Jordan

Adams is a vivacious screen presence with a twinkle in her eye, and Jordan can't quite match her, unable to draw out any real inner turmoil in a character who is respectable to a fault.

The chemistry between Jordan and Adams never gels (Charles appears slightly annoyed by Dana throughout), and there are a plethora of superfluous scenes that simply die on camera.

A Journal For Jordan is probably better suited to the page than the screen.

Visually, the style is basic. Under the surface the movie has complexity enough to handle a story whose timeline - a zigzag of points between 1998 and 2018 - is just one potential tangle.

Uninspired and ultimately forgettable.

Director Denzel Washington and his stars do their best with this bland, shallow and awkwardly structured film.

Chante Adams' excellent performance would be the reason to even consider seeing this.

Its a bit of a shock, considering Washingtons track record of directing strong, dynamic stories (Antwone Fisher, The Great Debaters and, most importantly, Fences), that he would make a movie this bland and lifeless.

A Journal for Jordan boasts a lot of talent behind and in front of the camera, but it never catches fire dramatically.

In its smaller moments, the film manages to capture some resonant emotions both in the love story and depictions of parenthood and grief.