'Nights In Rodanthe' (PG-13)(out of four)

Richard Gere and Diane Lane team up for their third movie together in "Nights in Rodanthe," and while they've been good before, this time it's definitely a charm.

Gere and Lane light up the screen in this sentimental drama about two people whose lives have taken unexpected turns leaving them wounded souls.

Gere plays a surgeon named Paul who has given up his life to be a good doctor at the expense of being a good father and husband, or so he believes.

Interview: Nicholas Sparks Special Section: Fall Movies

Lane is Adrienne, an artist who left her dreams behind after getting married and having children. When we're invited into this slice of life, both are at crucial periods in their middle years. Paul has suffered a serious blow in his career, while Adrienne has split with her husband after he admits to having an affair.

When Adrienne's friend Jean (an extremely likeable Viola Davis) goes on vacation and asks her to take over the duties for a weekend of running the picturesque inn she inherited from her family on North Carolina's Outer Banks, it's a welcome retreat for Adrienne, and a chance for her to sort things out.

Paul has other reasons for visiting Rodanthe, and staying at the inn. He's there to make amends with a family, and try to repair his own life.

So fate draws the two together. Over conversations and glasses of wine, plus shots of whiskey, the two find they are kindred spirits, although each is also prepared to challenge the other's choices.

Drawing the pair in even closer is the magnificent house that has brought them together. The inn serves as a metaphor for the character's lives, a place that’s weathered many storms, and is primed to weather yet another. And as a storm brews outside, so does the stirring of each of their souls. It's the forces of Mother Nature that bring the pair together as a hurricane threatens to topple the stoic house.

Best-selling author Nicholas Sparks, who wrote the book, uses the weather as a barometer for the pair's growth. The storm and the isolation forces each of them to connect not only with each other, but with themselves.

After calm returns to Rodanthe and they have made some peace within themselves through the relationship they've forged, each must go their separate ways, hoping one day to reconcile and get a second chance at true love.

Whether that second chance comes or not is best left to be discovered by seeing the film.

For moviegoers, being taking on a journey both in the evolution of the on-screen chemistry between Gere and Lane, and how the two characters evolve is mesmerizing. They draw you in to their trials and tribulations, while making you ponder your own choices.

Gere and Lane previously teamed for 1984's "The Cotton Club" and 2002's "Unfaithful," but they've never had this wonderful of a chance to play off of each other.

Surrounded by a beautiful set and a solid supporting cast, including Scott Glenn as a grieving widower and Christopher Meloni as the cheating husband, the film is a perfect introduction to fall -- a time for change.

For the sentimental among us, it's best to come equipped with tissues. For the cynical, it's wise to leave your doubts outside the door. And like the cool waters of Rodanthe, the movie allows you to be whisked away for 96 minutes if you let yourself go with the flow. And Lane and Gere are what make it easy to go along for the ride.