MAYBE WE WERE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER: Former high school sweethearts, Dawson Cole (James Marsden, right) and Amanda Collier (Michelle Monaghan) find themselves attracted to each other again when they reunite at an old friends funeral in their hometown. Will Dawson and Amanda get together as adults, or is this attraction for each other only a passing fancy. To find out, see the movie. (Photo by Peter Iovino – © 2014 Best of Me Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved)

The true test of a good tearjerker movie is whether or not it moves you to tears. And this movie managed to make me cry in spite of myself.

As this film unfolded, I found myself criticizing its considerable structural flaws; the questionable casting, the farfetched storyline, and one humdinger of a reveal. Nevertheless, as the closing credits rolled, I found myself wiping my eyes, a sure sign that this melodrama had achieved its goal.

Directed by Michael Hoffman (The Last Station), the picture is loosely based on the Nicholas Sparks best seller of the same name published in 2011. Sparks is the author of 18 romance novels, and half of them have been adapted to the big screen, most notably Message in a Bottle and The Notebook, with more in the works.

Set in Oriental, North Carolina, The Best of Me stars James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan as Dawson Cole and Amanda Collier, former high school sweethearts who haven’t seen each other in a couple decades. Strangely, the teenage versions of the same characters are played in a series of flashbacks by Luke Bracey and Liana Liberato, who don’t look at all like their older versions.

The point of departure is the present, where we learn that Dawson, who never married or attended college, is employed on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana. He barely survives a deepwater explosion that blows him off a hundred-foot high platform and turns the Gulf of Mexico into a sea of fire. Meanwhile Amanda, who is unhappily married, is living in Baton Rouge where she has stuck it out for 18 years with her abusive alcoholic husband (Sebastian Arcelus) for the sake of their son (Ian Nelson).

Fate brings the two back to their tiny hometown for the funeral of Tuck (Gerald McRaney), a mutual friend who had a posthumous agenda. He named them both in his will with the hope of arranging a reunion of the high school lovers — whom he thought were meant for each other. Sure enough, sparks fly, but will they share more than a brief dalliance?

Very Good (***). Rated PG-13 for sexuality, violence, brief profanity, and some drug use. Running time: 117 minutes. Distributor: Relativity Media.