Movie Review: The Lake House

Ok, this is a bit of a departure for postGeek. A review of a romance movie hardly falls into the postGeek mission statement. I'm doing it anyways for two reasons. The first is that the movie is technically a fantasy/sci-fi movie due to the premise. Second, I got to see this movie days before it enters general release in the US, so I can't help but exploit that opportunity.

So, just what is this premise that makes this technically "geek" material? Well, it's a minor spoiler, so if you don't want to know then you should just stop reading now. On the other hand, it is revealed fairly early in the film, so I don't feel too bad about including it in this review. Plus, the trailer totally reveals all of this anyway, but for those of you who haven't seen it, you have been warned.

(minor) Spoiler!!

Basically, the two main characters spend the film separated by a period of two years in time, yet are still able to communicate with each other. The result is a long distance relationship where the separation is one of time rather than space.

The filmmakers occasionally use this time difference to play with things by allowing them to actually change history. This is key to the plot in a romantic sense, but the logic behind it breaks down pretty quickly if examined as a story about cross-time communication instead of simply a story about a romance. For example, there is no examination of how the changes these two make in the flow of history effect the world around them, only how the changes effect their relationship. Also, sometimes the actions taken in the past as a result of the ongoing communication are obvious changes to the timeline, while other times they are obviously part of the original timeline, and the communication merely explains why they happened. There's no consistency in how these situations are handled.

Ok, so that's the review when seen as a story about cross-time communication, but that's not what the movie is really about. It's really about a romance between two characters played by Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. From that point of view I found it a tolerable way to spend an hour or so. This is the first movie I can recall watching that stars Keanu that didn't have me going "yep, that's Keanu Reeves" every time he opened his mouth. In other words, he actually does an ok job of acting the part of his character. Sandra Bullock's acting is good too, as are most of the supporting performances. I also enjoyed seeing some of the architecture featured in the film (Reeves' character is an architect and the son of a famous architect).

If your significant other demands you see a "chick flick" for every action film you drag her to see, then this is a good one to use to meet your quota.

If you have kids then there is nothing in this film that should be offensive to them, but you should realize that they will probably be bored out of their skulls. There is one image of a man hit by a bus, and some scenes in a hospital (Bullock's character is a doctor), but they are all sanitized and without any sort of gore.