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Shelf Beauties
by Willie Waffle
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The
Lake House
It could have been worse. Much
worse
Keanu Reeves stars as Alex
– an architect and developer who
has decided to move into a beautiful lake house outside of Chicago.
Upon arriving, he finds a note from the previous
resident, Dr. Kate
(Sandra Bullock), asking to forward her mail to her new apartment in Chicago,
and apologizing for
some damage to the house. However,
Alex
can’t find the damage mentioned.
Soon,
the two are exchanging notes via the lake house’s mailbox,
and falling for each
other, only to discover they are living two years apart (he’s
in 2004, she’s in
2006) and the notes are magically traversing the time and space
continuum to
bring them closer together (Has Captain Kirk become a mailman?).
How and why is this happening? Can they find true love? How will they get together
if they live two
years apart?
On the surface, the
supernatural romance film may sound
silly and predictable, but Bullock, Reeves, director Alejandro Agresti
and
writer David Auburn (based on the film Siworae
a/k/a Il
Mare) overcome the
inherent obstacles to deliver a passable movie with a nice twist
towards the
end. The audience
is able to keep track
of the timeline jumping plot thanks to Agresti’s efforts to
make it easy to
follow, even though you will find yourself trying to remember what is
2004 and
what is 2006 from time to time towards the end as events seem to be
speeding
forward and no one is showing me a calendar.
Also, he does a good job mixing narrative of Kate
and Alex reading their
letters, as if the two are conversing in the same room or same scene,
even when
the dialogue can become laughable.
It’s
that dialogue that leaves something to be desired.
Auburn
never delivers passages that reach romantic and passionate highs at any time during The Lake
House.
He excels at the quick, funny, mocking one-liners friends, family, Kate and
Alex all
use to poke some good natured fun at each other, but for a movie trying
to be
the make-you-cry, tortured romance film of the year, none of that
material
elicits the slightest tear from your eye.
No one moment stands out as the heartbreaking scene
that you will
remember forever and forever, but he deftly sets up a few cute
coincidences and
intersections of the two’s lives that will make you giggle.
Also, Auburn’s
script does have some logical problems.
In the year 2006, Kate TOTALLY would google Alex to
find information
about him, especially after one crucial scene that makes us wonder what
may
have happened to him in the years between 2004 and 2006. In another scene, she is
willing to dig
through medical records (a MAJOR violation of some hospital policy) to
find out
information for Alex, but Kate won’t put his name into
google.com to do a
little investigating? Just
for
curiosity’s sake, she would want to find out where he is in
the year 2006,
since he’s some kook who might be full of bull claiming to be
back in 2004. She
is driving several miles out of town each
week, and sometimes each day, to this isolated lake to exchange notes,
but
doing an internet search is too much effort?!?!?!
Finally, Reeves and Bullock are
good, but neither one seems
to be giving it 100%. At
times, Reeves comes to life and shows some emotion, whether it
be disbelief,
chagrin or heartbreak, but Bullock rarely gives Kate the kind of energy
and
happiness she should have as she falls in love.
Isn’t falling in love the equivalent of
drinking three cups of coffee
with a side of Red Bull? In
her case,
it’s the equivalent of a couple valiums.
Part
of this is Agresti’s slow pacing, but a great deal of
it is both leads trying to hold back too much.
While both characters are going through difficult
emotional problems
that cause them to shield themselves from the world, love is supposed
to break
down those barriers, at least a love that is so powerful IT TRANSPORTS
LOVE
LETTERS THROUGH TIME VIA A MAGIC MAILBOX!!!!
It’s
not the greatest love story of all time, but won’t turn
you off so much you become a chaste spinster either.
2
½ Waffles (Out Of 4)
Copyright 2006 - WaffleMovies.com
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