Review of The Lake House (2006) by Jeff B — 16 Jul 2010
In the time-bending romantic yarn The Lake House, moviegoers learn that love means never having to say, "Whoa!" Ah, Keanu. Ah, humanity. Adapted from the 1962 Italian film Il Mare, the concept held great potential (especially for this geeky reviewer, a big fan of time travel movies). Given the curriculum vitae of Pulitzer prize-winning screenwriter David Auburn (Proof), however, there came the expectation of something less melodramatic...much less.
In this PG-13-rated drama, a mystery develops between a lovelorn doctor (Bullock) and a frustrated architect (Reeves), who begin exchanging letters from the same unique lake house...exactly two years apart from each other.
Director Alejandro Agresti has fun with this kiss through time, cleverly alternating and intersecting past and present tangentially, but ultimately cannot generate the magical oomph that makes an interesting time-bender unforgettable, a la Back to the Future and Somewhere in Time. With all the pomp but little circumstance, the movie ultimately feels like it should have been made as a low-budget no-star foreign film with...oh wait, it already was.
Bottom line: Return to sender.
This review of The Lake House (2006) was written by Jeff B on 16 Jul 2010.
The Lake House has generally received positive reviews.
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