Nelson Moss meets Sara Deever, a woman very different from anyone he has met before. His ignorance leads to her failing her driving test. She beguiles him and continually asks him to spend a month with her on the promise that she will change his life for the better. On the first night of November, after Nelson is fired and dumped on the same day, she sleeps with him, and the next day Chaz, a close friend of Sara's, arrives and refers to Nelson as Sara's "November". Throughout November, the two experience happy times together and fall in love. Nelson examines his life and past, and befriends a fatherless child named Abner. Eventually, he realizes he is in love with Sara and asks her to marry him. It is revealed that Sara has terminal cancer, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Because she cannot bear to have Nelson experience her death, she asks him to leave. Sara tells Chaz that Nelson proposed to her. Chaz says that it wasn't the first time that a man had proposed, implying Sara has had numerous "months" before. Sara confirms this but claims it was the first time she had wanted to say yes. She decides she will not continue the relationship to protect Nelson from being hurt. Nelson complies, but then stages a surprise return during the Thanksgiving holiday, giving her gifts that remind her of their happy times. They stay together for one more day; he posts November calendars all over her apartment walls, saying it can always be November for them. They make love, but the next morning, Nelson finds Sara is dressed. She asks him to leave, and he sees she has taken down the calendars. Nelson becomes confused and heartbroken. Sara asks Nelson to let her go so that he will always have happy memories of her and explains that this is how she needs to be remembered. She will return home to her family and face her last days. Sara then blindfolds Nelson, leads him to a park, and gives him a last kiss. Nelson takes off the blindfold and sees that he is alone in a park he and Sara went on one of their first dates. His eyes fill with tears and the movie ends.
Cast
Music
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 15% based on 98 reviews, with an average rating of 3.52/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Schmaltzy and manipulative, Sweet November suffers from an implausible plot and non-existent chemistry between its leads." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 27 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. Due to the poor response the film had from critics, it was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Remake or Sequel, Worst Actor for Keanu Reeves and Worst Actress for Charlize Theron. It is listed on Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.
Box office
The film opened at number 4 at the North Americanbox office making $11,015,226 in its opening weekend behind , Down to Earth and Hannibal. It ultimately grossed only $25.2 million domestically with an additional $40.4 million overseas to a total of $65.7 million worldwide.
