My Take - The Lake House - Review

MY TAKE ON THE MOVIES
A MINI-REVIEW OF
THE LAKE HOUSE
By: A. L. “Toni” Anderson


Veteran actress Sandra Bullock (Crash - 2004) and Keanu Reeves (Constantine - 2005) star in the fanciful romantic drama, The Lake House, the 2006 remake of a South Korean film Il Mare (Italian for “the sea”). The two would-be lovers meet across time, through letters posted in an old-fashioned mailbox, at a house of special significance to them both.

Architect and “sleazy little condo developer” Alex Wyler purchases a glass house by the lake and there discovers a letter from the previous tenant, Kate Forster, requesting that he forward her mail. Through their extended correspondence, he discovers that Dr. Forster actually lived in the house after he purchased it. Go figure! The two eventually fall in love, and experience a very atypical long distance relationship. By a quirk of fate, they even share the same dog (a female mutt called “Jack”) as a companion.

The premise of the movie is corny, to be sure, and while the mechanism employed has implausible elements, it does not stop one from trying to figure out exactly how it works. At one stage it seems that events taking place for Katie in 2006 Chicago pre-date events taking place for Alex in 2004 Madison. But who said it has to make sense?

Katie has been unlucky in love, and though her path has crossed Alex’s several times, their attempts at a real connection go unfulfilled. She poignantly laments to her friend and fellow doctor (Shohreh Aghdashloo of The Exorcism of Emily Rose - 2005) “The one guy I can never meet, I want to give my whole heart to.”

Christopher Plummer (Inside Man - 2006) plays the role of Simon Wyler, famous architect and father of Alex. The brother, Henry, is played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Mona Lisa Smile - 2003). Katie’s mother is played by Dutch actress Willeke van Ammelrooy, and her overly enthusiastic ex-boyfriend, Morgan, is played by Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck). The film is directed by Argentinean Alejandro Agresti.