As many readers know, the new Reagan movie starring Dennis Quaid is based on one of my books on Ronald Reagan, “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.” The response has been extraordinary, with very high ratings by audience members.

Predictably, not all reviews have been positive, especially from more ideological critics. I can’t address all their criticisms here, but there’s one that I find especially worthy of rebuttal.

Some judge the film “corny” and “sentimental.” They’ve applied that to the relationship between Ronald and Nancy Reagan, which they insist is so glowingly portrayed that it can’t be accurate.

Sorry, folks, but it was. The reality is Ronald and Nancy Reagan were head over heels for each other.

“Ronnie is my hero,” gushed Nancy. “My life began when I got married. My life began with Ronnie.”

And here’s what Ronald Reagan said: “If Nancy hadn’t come along when she did, I would’ve lost my soul.”

He treated Nancy like the world’s greatest girl. Cynical reviewers guffaw at the scene in the film when “Nancy Pants” (as Reagan called her) blushes over a silly love letter while he rows their canoe. The reality, however, is Reagan wrote hundreds of such letters to Nancy, many with cutesy cartoon illustrations. If you want to see for yourself, there’s a remarkable book of love letters between the two. You’ll be blown away.

As for the cynics, educate yourself about Ronald and Nancy Reagan before sounding off. In fact, one person who did just that is Penelope Ann Miller, who played Nancy in the movie, and splendidly so. She read a stack of books on Nancy in preparing for the role. She said of the Reagans: “They really, honestly, completely adored each other … . She was madly in love with him.”

That’s the truth. I do wonder if some of the nastier reviewers are envious of the Reagans’ happiness. The Reagans’ joy shouldn’t make others bitter.

Does the movie portray Ronald Reagan as the ideal husband? To the contrary, it underscores the failure of his first marriage to Jane Wyman. He openly calls himself a failure. When he first meets Nancy, he warns her that he’s a divorcee with two kids: “damaged goods.” She replies, “We’re all damaged goods, Ronnie.”

It’s at that moment that the two embrace for the first time in the film, right up to their sweet dance together at the inaugural ball in January 1981. They dance to one of my personal favorites, Frankie Valli’s “My Eyes Adored You.” It’s fitting.

On the negative side, the Reagans admitted they didn’t have a glowing relationship with their kids Patti and Ron. They seemed near-perfect as husband and wife, but, as parents, that wasn’t the case.

Incidentally, the film includes plenty of peaks and valleys in Ronald Reagan’s life: the marriage to Wyman, the collapse of his movie career and him ending up in Vegas as a vaudeville act at the aptly named Last Frontier Hotel.

But we also see Nancy at his side in Vegas, knowing how humiliating this work was to her husband, but supporting him nonetheless, forever.

The film ends with the credits and footage of Ronald Reagan’s funeral in June 2004. There’s not a dry eye in the theater when Nancy strokes and tenderly speaks to her husband’s casket.

That was the Reagans’ loving relationship, until death did them part. It was a genuinely great love story of two people who adored one another.

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