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All you need to know about "The Best of Me" is summed up in the first moments of the movie when the words "a Nicholas Sparks production" appear on screen. The novelist-turned-producer is the reigning king of thwarted romance and tearful endings, as you can see in "The Notebook," "A Walk to Remember," "Dear John" and many others. He has resurrected the formula again with the usual trappings: a kissing scene in the pouring rain, a disapproving father, obstacles that lead to the wrong pairing.

In this case, the story follows high school sweethearts who lose touch. Amanda (Michelle Monaghan) and Dawson (James Marsden) are reunited after a mutual friend dies, and as soon as Amanda glimpses Dawson for the first time in 21 years, two things are clear: She’s very angry with him, and they’re totally going to get together.

After all, she’s in a loveless marriage to a heavy drinker who has friends named Chazz and Brooksy and talks about plans to visit his alma mater for a “Sigma Nu thing.” Compare that with Dawson, who works on an oil rig where he spends his spare time reading Stephen Hawking and rescuing people from fires.

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What Dawson did to make Amanda so angry is the mystery that drives the movie. The story fills in the blanks slowly during occasional leaps in time to 1992, when the pair first meet as high schoolers. Back then, Amanda (Liana Liberato) is a popular good girl who practically throws herself at Dawson (Luke Bracey), the hot quiet guy from the wrong side of the tracks. Dawson, meanwhile, comes from an abusive family. His mercurial father hits him, and the rest of the clan are cartoonish hillbillies with guns and mullets and chewing tobacco habits.

These kinds of caricatures, among other details, inevitably lead to a persistent question: Is anyone concerned with making this remotely believable? The characters’ Southern accents come and go, and Bracey looks way too old to be attending a prom and nothing like Marsden (although, to be fair, the late Paul Walker was initially cast as Dawson — then again, Bracey looks nothing like Walker, either). At one point, the younger Dawson whips up a post-coital breakfast of French toast a couple scenes after he proved he couldn’t even chop an onion. And then there’s the film’s ending, the absurdity of which cannot be overstated.

Marsden and Monaghan provide some relief from the saccharine dialogue and outlandish plotting. They have chemistry and even pull off a moment of intentional comedy with what may be one of the funniest ash-scattering scenes ever filmed. Marsden brings an impressive amount of authenticity to his lovelorn role. Monaghan has a harder job with a greater proportion of tearful, overly sentimental dialogue, but her go-to acting style of quiet control serves her well as Amanda, and she even gets a couple good one-liners. Gerald McRaney, who plays Dawson’s gruff surrogate father, also brings a bit of comedy, and when he talks about his late wife, he does it in a matter-of-fact way that turns out to be a lot more affecting than all the sighing and sobbing.

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But even as characters are tweaked and actors bring a slightly different energy than his other movies, “The Best of Me” is still the same mushy Nicholas Sparks adaptation with drama so overwrought audience members can’t help but laugh — at least until they’re sniffling during the closing credits.

★ ½

PG-13. At area theaters. Contains sexuality, violence, some drug content and brief strong language. 117 minutes.

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