Written by Hombre Divertido
The thought of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock reuniting in a romantic fantasy, might make some people shudder, but surprisingly, it’s not the performances that caused this house to fall. Their performances as two tenants of a house on a lake who manage to contact each other through their mailbox while living in different times, though limited in dimension, are quite endearing. The problem with The Lake House is in the story. Not only do our lonely doctor (Bullock) and our frustrated architect (Reeves) fall far too easily into dealing with the magical mailbox that allows them to communicate though existing two years apart, but the key plot points and twists come at us as obviously as a runaway bus. Like watching a horror film, and screaming at the character not to go outside when she sees someone in the garage with an axe, you can’t help but wonder why our two main characters don’t react to the incredible situation like any normal person might. Making no attempt to figure the situation out, or do any investigation, they fall quite easily into a pen-pal relationship that leaves them standing at the mailbox with the anxiousness of a teenager waiting for a note from their first crush. The movie is not without good qualities: Reeves and Bullock manage performances that are intriguing, and the audience does care about them, unfortunately, the plot has the audience longing for them to get together not because they care, but because of the desire for the story to be over. One can’t help but know where this is going, and are left wishing the theatre were in the mailbox so that we might jump to the end of the film with much more Speed. The Lake House also has a wonderful soundtrack that compliments the relationship well, and a solid performance by Christopher Plummer as the estranged father of Reeves’ architect. Unfortunately, there are just not enough good things about The Lake House to warrant a tour; at least not one that lasts ninety-nine minutes. Recommendation: For more enjoyable exploits of our stars dealing with issues of time, rent Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Demolition Man.
