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Judy Thorburn's Movie Reviews

The Lake House

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Judy Thorburn

The Lake House

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Flick Chicks Chick-O-Meter The Flick Chicks, film, video, movie reviews, critics, Judy Thorburn, Victoria Alexander, Polly Peluso, Shannon Onstot, Jacqueline Monahan, Tasha ChemplavilFlick Chicks Chick-O-Meter The Flick Chicks, film, video, movie reviews, critics, Judy Thorburn, Victoria Alexander, Polly Peluso, Shannon Onstot, Jacqueline Monahan, Tasha ChemplavilFlick Chicks Chick-O-Meter The Flick Chicks, film, video, movie reviews, critics, Judy Thorburn, Victoria Alexander, Polly Peluso, Shannon Onstot, Jacqueline Monahan, Tasha ChemplavilFlick Chicks Chick-O-Meter The Flick Chicks, film, video, movie reviews, critics, Judy Thorburn, Victoria Alexander, Polly Peluso, Shannon Onstot, Jacqueline Monahan, Tasha ChemplavilFlick Chicks Chick-O-Meter The Flick Chicks, film, video, movie reviews, critics, Judy Thorburn, Victoria Alexander, Polly Peluso, Shannon Onstot, Jacqueline Monahan, Tasha Chemplavil

"THE LAKE HOUSE" - WHERE TIME IS OF THE ESSENSE

Can two lovers separated by time somehow find a way to cross the barrier, connect, and live happily ever after? In the world of Hollywood fantasy movies anything is possible, no matter how implausible or improbable. After all, we have seen the premise of people struggling to connect from different timeframes explored from various storyline angles dozens of times. “Back to the Future” and “Frequency”, are just a few film examples that ring a bell. Becoming emotionally invested in the characters’ quest to fulfill a longing and turn hope into a reality is what makes the effort work or not. My favorite romantic tale about time crossed lovers is the 1980 Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour vehicle, “Somewhere in Time” which just happens to have a few other things in common with The Lake House: the setting of Chicago and a supporting co-star, Christopher Plummer. But, that is where the similarities end. What’s different about The Lake House is the unique spin of a magical mailbox used as a plot device that acts as a conduit for the two principals to communicate with each other.

Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Christopher Plummer, Dylan Walsh, Mike Bacarella, The Flick Chicks, film, video, movie reviews, critics, Judy Thorburn, Victoria Alexander, Polly Peluso, Shannon Onstot, Jacqueline Monahan, Tasha Chemplavil

As with all movies that delve into this territory, audiences must throw some reason and logic to the wind. The Lake House, as a romantic, “supernatural” fantasy depends on us doing just that. I have no problem with suspending belief, but being left confused is another thing. Without a doubt, The Lake House, an American remake of the 2000 Korean film “Il Mare”, is a sensitive and endearing romantic tale that had me absorbed into the romantic couple’s dilemma, but it loses ground by way of paradoxes and unexplained scenes. In the end I know I was not alone in feeling more confused than emotionally satisfied.

Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Christopher Plummer, Dylan Walsh, Mike Bacarella, The Flick Chicks, film, video, movie reviews, critics, Judy Thorburn, Victoria Alexander, Polly Peluso, Shannon Onstot, Jacqueline Monahan, Tasha Chemplavil

Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves are re-united on screen for the first time since “Speed”, the film that turned them into stars. Bullock is Kate Forster, an isolated and lonely Chicago doctor and Reeves is Alex Wyler, a talented but frustrated architect who share more than a few things in common. Both have resided at the same lakeside glass house built on stilts on the outskirts of Chicago and somehow own the same shaggy female pooch named Jack. It is made obvious that the house holds a dear place in each of their hearts. Kate feels at home and at peace there, and for Alex it was his estranged father Simon (Christopher Plummer) a famous architect, who built the house as a gift for Alex’s mother in happier times. Each is also bonded by a past ridden with disappointments and something missing in their lives.

Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Christopher Plummer, Dylan Walsh, Mike Bacarella, The Flick Chicks, film, video, movie reviews, critics, Judy Thorburn, Victoria Alexander, Polly Peluso, Shannon Onstot, Jacqueline Monahan, Tasha Chemplavil

Communication between the two start off when Kate relocates to a condo in the city and leaves behind a note in the mailbox outside the lakeside house asking the next tenant to kindly forward her mail to her new address. Enter Alex. When he is unable to deliver a letter to Kate because her condo complex is still under construction and won’t be completed for eighteen months, it appears that something unexplainable and strange is happening. After corresponding for a while, more facts come to light and both come to realize they are living two years apart, she in the present day 2006 and he in 2004. As the two exchange letters revealing more and more about themselves and what is going on in their lives they begin to fall in love. Eventually they realize that they have indeed met before, crossing paths, not once but twice, first at a train station and again at her birthday celebration during her involvement with Morgan, an attorney played by Dylan Walsh (of TV’s Nip/Tuck).

Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Christopher Plummer, Dylan Walsh, Mike Bacarella, The Flick Chicks, film, video, movie reviews, critics, Judy Thorburn, Victoria Alexander, Polly Peluso, Shannon Onstot, Jacqueline Monahan, Tasha Chemplavil

The story unfolds by jumping back and forth from 2006 to 2004 in a non-linear fashion with subplots surrounding Alex and Kate that involve family, and other relationships. Anxious to reach out and touch one another Alex makes an attempt to find Kate in his time period while Kate waits for Alex to catch up in hers. In the meantime they are unaware that their actions are creating pieces that are slowing bridging the gap. However, one has to put their brain on hold to ignore the paradoxes, loopholes and plot discrepancies that ensue. The riddled with holes screenplay expects us to just go with the flow and accept everything as given. I can’t when certain things don’t make much sense.

Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Christopher Plummer, Dylan Walsh, Mike Bacarella, The Flick Chicks, film, video, movie reviews, critics, Judy Thorburn, Victoria Alexander, Polly Peluso, Shannon Onstot, Jacqueline Monahan, Tasha Chemplavil

Hey, I am a fool for love. No one is more of a sucker for romance than me. And, if this review comes across as a total pan, let me add that the positive elements may bring me back for a second look. Visually speaking, the Chicago locations, architecture, and cinematography are pretty and set the mood. And most important, the stars, Keanu (yes, he CAN act) and Sandra do make a beautiful couple, have a nice chemistry and bring believable depth to their prospective roles. For these reasons the Lake House definitely warrants a visit. But don’t say I didn’t warn you about leaving your thinking cap at the door.

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