The Lake House (16 June 2006)
directed by Alejandro Agresti
starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Christopher Plummer, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Dylan Walsh, Mike Bacarella, Jacqueline Williams
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MPAA rating: Studio: Warner Brothers, Vertigo Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictures Script: David Auburn, Eun-Jeong Kim, Ji-na Yeo Music: Rachel Portman, Paul M. van Brugge Running time: 105 minutes Tags: architects; dogs; Drama; Fantasy; father-son relationships; lakes; letters; Mystery; Romance Tactical strength: [6/10]
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for some language and a disturbing image
Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves) has moved into a beautiful lake-house with all-glass exterior walls, a tree growing in the middle, and a mysterious mailbox that delivers him letters from the future. The letters come from Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) the "previous" occupant. After a brief fight about the date, Kate and Alex realize that he lives two-years in Kate's past. After exchanging numerous letters, they fall in love and agree to meet, but Alex never shows up for the date. We have several subplots orbiting around the main storyline. Alex has an estranged relationship with his father Simon (Christopher Plummer), a famous architect, who has a heart attack during the movie. Kate has an on-again, off-again relationship with Morgan (Dylan Walsh) that seems to peak at the same times as Kate's relationship to Alex, just to add to the conflict.
For the plot, we have a pretty formulaic romance. The couple "meet" (well, they correspond), fall in love, have a break up, and reunite with stronger love than before. The subplots add some nice variety to the main story, and do all get wrapped up nicely in the end. Well, except for Morgan, who gets dropped at least twice like a hot potato. The principle actors provide reasonable performances for the roles, but nothing that would make you think "Oscar nomination."
But in general, I have to say, "Ho hum." The storyline drug on and on and on. I read and watch a lot of science fiction, so this little time-distortion plot didn't have many twists and turns compared to many science fiction stories. I had the entire plot of The Lake House figured out in about 15 minutes and nothing surprised me in any way -- no pleasant surprises, no disappointing surprises. In other words, The Lake House moved along at a fairly slow pace with decent acting and scriptwriting but provided almost nothing to hold my interest. The love story on its own didn't provide enough material and the mysterious mailbox doesn't add enough extra strength to bolster the dragging plot.
Even cinematically, I think Alejandro Agresti missed out on many opportunities. He filmed most of the movie during winter months, so we have lots of scenes of bare trees around an all-glass house. Even in the exterior scenes, the locations looked drab and uninspiring. A different location might have at least added some incredible cinematic moments -- sunrise over the lake or even a brightly colored autumn scene. But, alas, we have only drab locations for a common love story with a cute, but unimaginative, gimmick.
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