The last time Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock got together on something, the result was a bus that couldn’t decelerate under 50 m.p.h. for fear of blowing up.
Now they are reunited in “The Lake House,” and not only is this movie considerably slowed down from “Speed,” it has a far more incredible premise. This movie, a remake of a Korean film, is a romantic number with a time-tripping angle.
She plays Chicago doctor Kate Forster, who has recently moved out of a lakeside home in the woods. He plays architect-contractor Alex Wyler, newly moved into the same eccentric house by the lake. They exchange a couple of letters, through the unlikely method of leaving them in the lake home’s mailbox. (Why the mailman never intercepts these missives is one of the movie’s many unanswered questions.)
The unusual thing is that Alex is living in 2004 and Kate in 2006. Quicker than you can say, “Somewhere in Time,” they realize this, at which point they simply proceed with their playful flirtation.
They try to meet, but don’t succeed. Well, except for one accidental meeting at a party – a long scene that is nevertheless the only sustained time that Reeves and Bullock actually spend on screen interacting.
The audience will be way ahead of the two would-be lovers. There are some simple solutions to the problem here, but the doctor and the architect can’t figure them out. Anybody who’s ever seen a movie will puzzle out an explanation in the first half-hour of this one.
Alejandro Agresti, an Argentinean who made “Valentin” a few years ago, directs the film handsomely if dully, and Christopher Plummer brings his well-seasoned coldness to the role of Alex’s father.
Beyond that, we’re almost entirely in the hands of the two stars. Sandra Bullock has here another of her mopy roles, which seem so curious for a performer who used to thrive on conveying high spirits and joie de vivre. There’s not much reason for her to crack a smile in this scenario.
One of my favorite things in movies is watching Keanu Reeves pretend to be a regular guy, where he “shares a beer” or “horses around” with buddies. He’s so unconvincing in these moments it’s no wonder he seems happier playing futuristic ciphers.
In “The Lake House,” the premise requires Reeves to dress in a hard hat and parka and walk around a construction site barking out dialogue about bulldozers and work crews. That’s some choice stuff.
To be fair, Sandra Bullock does seem to humanize the guy, and their main scene together is easily the nicest sequence in the film, especially a long conversation that plays without a cut. There’s a hint there of another movie … but maybe it takes place two years from now.
Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves star in “The Lake House.”
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