Lake House, The DVD Review

"The Lake House" reviews

DVD

The Lake House

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-10-06 15:01:14

Provider

MRIB

DVD Review

There are countless films in which couples struggle, vainly, to understand one another. The Lake House, though, is different, being a tale of two people - Dr Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) and Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves) – whose inability to connect is related to the fact that they're living two years apart.

The film, based on Korean flick Il Mare, is certainly a zillion miles from the film that first united the stars, Speed, and opens with Kate packing and moving from her house in Chicago, and Alex moving in. When he arrives the house is unrecognisable: dusty, dirty and overgrown with weeds. Stranger still he finds a note in the mailbox requesting that he forward Kate's post and adding that the inexplicable paw prints by the front door were there when she moved in.

Alex doesn't see any paw prints, but a day or so later, the architect having painted the exterior in a bid to return it to its glory days of old when it was built by Alex's estranged dad (Christopher Plummer), a stray dog runs across the paint and leaves paw prints where Kate said where they'd be.

They begin to exchange increasingly puzzled notes, with Kate correcting Alex on his dating of a letter, pointing out that it's 2006, not 2004. Alex is perplexed.

He is not alone. The Lake House, despite being captivatingly unusual, does suffer a bit from trying to satisfy too many audiences simultaneously. Is it a magical mystery love story, a messy family drama or a psychodrama? And why, when the duo are clearly growing close, doesn't Kate simply give Alex her phone number?

Those questions are not answered in the additional scenes and outtakes included but the DVD extras will entertain those who appreciate the film which is, at least, brave in these formulaic movie times.

Copyright © MRIB 2006.