Stereotypically chick flicks are films forced upon men by coercive women who are tired of the same old Stephen Seagal flicks and long for a tiny bit of romance. For the males involved these films seem tacky, poorly conceived. "I mean why does the chick fall for him and not the jock? What kind of movie is this?!?" But with The Lake House we have a new smarter breed of Romantic Dramedy. Not only is it enjoyable for either gender, but the acting level of Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves will satisfy even the pickiest of popular cinema connoisseurs
This is the tale of two souls bound together in a relationship that all dream of finding and few seldom achieve. Sounds good for them right? Well unfortunately there's a small problem: the couple in question are living years apart. Wait, what? You're saying they love each other but don't live in the same time? Is she modern and he from the 17th century, because I think they made that already and it had Hugh Jackman in it. But no, that's not what I'm saying. They live in the same house and somehow, for some unexplained reason their mailbox has a flux capacitor. Yet as an audience it's not too hard to get past that.
Alex Wyler (Reeves) moves into his new lake house (hence the name of the movie) to find a letter from the previous inhabitant Kate Forster (Bullock). Through a strange coincidence Wyler discovers that his mailbox is allowing him to talk to the tenant who lived there 4 years before. As the relationship between Alex and Kate grows we stop caring so much about the unexplained mailbox and are drawn into the lives of our two main protagonists. Will they ever connect? Are they doomed to permanent penpal-ism? As both Alex and Kate struggle to communicate they begin to put pieces together, they find ways to meet each other in real-time. Though Kate doesn't recognize him when she sees Alex in his time; because, oh yeah, they haven't been pen pals yet.
The movie takes us down various emotional roads as both Wyler and Forster deal with personal problems alongside their fantastical love story. Alex reconciles with his father (Christopher Plummer) and finds out pieces of his childhood that he never knew and other parts he thought he didn't want to know. Forster deals with the stress of her medical profession and what it means to her familial relations. The movie keeps the audience engaged with deep and complex characters and their equally involving stories.
This summer's selection of Keanu Reeves seem to be a turning point for his career; he's concentrating less on parts that allow him to stay in his comfortable niche of whoa-dom and expand and embark into a new world of actual drama. The Lake House has Keanu displaying his acting chops and he pulls off the more emotional roles with slightly more emotional sincerity than in the past; although he could still use some work there, he's pretty good.
It's been awhile since Sandra Bullock took on a serious film and she seems to have chosen one that suits her abilities and mannerisms perfectly. She plays the struggling woman in a situation that she doesn't completely understand but wants to believe in more than anything else she's ever encountered before. Sandra pulls off this role splendidly and hopefully she'll do more dramatic work in the future as well.
All in all, most audiences will be entertained and filled by this movie of love despite seemingly impenetrable boundaries. For those who can only sit through Jean Claude Van Damme movies, I say try this, broaden your horizons. For everyone else, see this movie, it's a nice movie and guys, she'll be happier at the end of the date; just do it, if only for that reason. If you're open minded you might just enjoy it as well.
"The Lake House" opens June 16, 2006 and is rated PG. Comedy, Drama, Romance. Directed by Alejandro Agresti. Written by David Auburn (screenplay), Eun-Jeong Kim (motion picture "Siworae"). Starring Christopher Plummer, Dylan Walsh, Keanu Reeves, Lynn Collins, Sandra Bullock.
