Twelve years after Speed, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock reunite (fans around the world rejoice) in a romance! While I can't stand the usual Hollywood romances (romantic comedies being the exception), truth be told, The Lake House is one of the best I've seen in recent years.
When Chicago doctor Kate Forster (Bullock) vacates the spectacular lake house she's been renting for a few months, she leaves the next tenant a welcome note. When architect Alex Wyler (Reeves) arrives at the lake house, he finds the note left by Kate. The odd thing, however, is the date on the letter: it's 2006. For Alex, 2004 has just begun and the house has been abandoned for years. He thinks it's a practical joke, and he leaves the "trespasser" a note. When Kate, needing a brief break from the stress in Chicago, returns to the lake house, she finds the note, and she writes back.
Soon, they realize that they exist in two different times, exactly two years apart. Their only connection with each other is the magical mailbox and the letters they leave for each other. Through their letters, they start to get to know each other. Curious, Alex crosses path with Kate in 2004, who obviously doesn't know him and is living with her boyfriend Morgan (Dylan Walsh). The love between Alex in 2004 and Kate in 2006 grows as they continue to confide in each other. Soon, Kate decides that she must meet Alex in 2006 and settle this once and for all.
Speed made Bullock (Crash) a star and Reeves (Constantine) a bona fide action hero. It's interesting to see them get together again in a romance-fantasy. Bullock still does her lonely, girl-next-door part justice. She's radiant, lovely, yet vulnerable and guarded. Reeves is, as usual, cool and dashing, yet surprisingly expressive in some key scenes. Twelve years later, Bullock and Reeves still share tremendous chemistry with each other, and that's quite phenomenal when you consider they only have two scenes together. In a romance, chemistry counts for everything.
The supporting cast is strong in their relative small but well-developed roles. Shohreh Aghdashloo (X-Men: The Last Stand) is warm and affecting as Kate's colleague, Dr. Klyczynski. Christopher Plummer (Inside Man) is cold, proper and pompous as Alex's father, Simon Wyler, a Frank Lloyd Wright-like architect. Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Live Free or Die) is earnest and sincere as Alex's younger brother, Henry. Walsh (Nip/Tuck) is solid as Kate's lovelorn ex-boyfriend, and Dutch actress Willeke van Ammelrooy (Lulu) is sweet as Kate's widowed mother.
The script by David Auburn (Proof) is based on the Korean film Siworae (2000) written by Eun-Jeong Kim. The story makes an interesting decision to not explain the magic of the mailbox and how the time rip comes to be. The audience must simply accept the premise; thus, the movie sets up an expectation: Alex asks Kate, "Is is really happening?" and Kate answers, "Why not?" Likewise, we must also believe in the magic of love, that anything could happen. The timeline is a little confusing and we must pay attention or else we would get lost. As with any stories dealing with time-space continuum, there is a number of inconsistencies, logical flaws and plot holes. For example, the bits about the tree and the book are too sentimental and silly, they defy logic. And we must ask, have they ever heard of e-mail and Google? However, none of these flaws are fatal, and it doesn't really affect our enjoyment of the story in any negative way.
Article comments
1 - Scott
What was the name of the book he got her in the movie?
2 - Ray
Persuasion by Jane Austen.
3 - penny
would like to have this story in written form...where can i find it?