“The Lake House” (Warner Brothers)
Romantics Should Be Lining Up For This One
Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves made movie magic when they co-starred in “Speed” several years ago. Now they are in a magical movie titled “The Lake House” and their chemistry together still holds up. The movie is a time travel fantasy of the “Somewhere In Time” sort and should appeal to and satisfy the romantics among us.
Bullock plays Kate Forster, a doctor living in Chicago, who is vacating a lake house where she has been living. She leaves a letter in the mailbox for the next tenant. Alex Wyler (Reeves) is an architect who is living in the lake house and gets the letter from Kate. He answers her letter and puts it in the mailbox to be picked up – and so begins their correspondence.
What they soon learn is that Alex is living in the lake house in 2004 while Kate was living there in 2006. The “magical mailbox” somehow takes their letters through time to each other. And through these letters they fall in love. Fate, however, has some tricks in store for them and getting together is not going to be easy.
The point to remember in all this is that the movie is a fantasy. You can not analyze it logically for it will all fall apart. It is a movie that you just have to accept as being what it is and let it go at that. They are in love; they want to be together; fate may or may not let them. If you are observant you will see that a tragedy early in the film will have implications for the outcome.
The last movie Bullock and Reeves did was all about speed. This movie is all about slowness. Everything moves at a slow, languid pace. Nothing is rushed, nothing is hurried. Kate is the calmest role Bullock has played in ages and she has never acted or looked better.
Opposite her, Reeves is a bit quirky but also moves at a slower pace than usual. He plays Alex as a man who is thoughtful and reflective. That is not the usual Reeves role but he plays it to perfection.
Dylan Walsh of “Nip/Tuck” fame plays Bullock’s perennial boyfriend Morgan. Christopher Plummer plays Reeves estranged father, and Lynn Collins plays Mona who is a possible love interest for Alex.
The film is rated PG for mild profanity.
This film is an Americanized version of a Korean movie. This may account for the mystical mood of the film and its lethargic pacing. It also explains why the film seems a little old fashioned in its story telling.
“The Lake House” is a movie to be seen with your significant other. It is unabashedly sentimental and touches your heart from the very start. As such it is not a movie for everyone, but for those who enjoy this type of film it is great!
I scored “The Lake House” a well-structured 7 out of 10.
