The Lake House is an okay movie. It held my attention about half of the time.
The performances were just okay. The characters were pretty flat.
The scene in which Bullock and Reeves dance and kiss had some nice emotional tension.
The SF/fantasy element was somewhat interesting, but would have been better if just a little more thought had gone into it.
Moving on to some serious story problems (SERIOUS SPOILER ALERT -- stop reading if you haven't seen it):
About halfway through the story, Bullock's character makes a date with Reeves. He doesn't show up. She assumes the worst (though it's never said what exactly she assumes). Why? Why totally break things off, when you're in a deep romantic relationship, because of one broken date? Why doesn't it occur to her (as it does to him, and surely must to the audience) that something might or must have happened to him? Bullock's character does little that's decisive in the movie, but her abrupt decision to dump the guy because he didn't show up, without any explanation, makes her seem shallow and a little stupid.
Not a big point, but the story was set in 2006 (and 2004), but the characters did not have access to the internet. There did not appear to be an internet. If there was one, her first action, if she had half a brain, on realizing she was corresponding with a man from the past, would have been to look him up and see "what's he doing today." If he missed her date, she would have done some more digging. A world with magical mailboxes, I can accept; a world without an internet is actually harder to believe.
It's more than passing odd that in the time-line when he dies in her arms, after being hit by the bus that collided with the car, she didn't remember him. It's true that she had only met him once, at a party, but she had danced with him and kissed him there. Her boyfriend certainly remembered Reeves, enough to recognize him in the street and walk up to him angrily years after the kiss. Why didn't Bullock?
Minor point, but, who was she paying rent to, when she was renting the Lakehouse?
I can understand why he turned around and avoided being killed in the car/bus crash, but it appeared there was no crash in the altered reality. Why didn't it happen? And if it didn't, why did he need to stay away?
The story had so many sentimental elements, and the dog had so much to do with the sentiment, it seems odd that it wasn't around in the final scene. It could easily have been worked into the story, with a tiny amount of thought.
I don't mind a few story holes, but the ones in The Lakehouse could have been avoided with a little care and forethought. It was touching... I do understand why people liked it.... but I also think we have the right, as moviegoers, to expect that the plots will make basic sense. It's fine if they drift into fantasy, but the characterization has to make sense.
The performances were just okay. The characters were pretty flat.
The scene in which Bullock and Reeves dance and kiss had some nice emotional tension.
The SF/fantasy element was somewhat interesting, but would have been better if just a little more thought had gone into it.
Moving on to some serious story problems (SERIOUS SPOILER ALERT -- stop reading if you haven't seen it):
About halfway through the story, Bullock's character makes a date with Reeves. He doesn't show up. She assumes the worst (though it's never said what exactly she assumes). Why? Why totally break things off, when you're in a deep romantic relationship, because of one broken date? Why doesn't it occur to her (as it does to him, and surely must to the audience) that something might or must have happened to him? Bullock's character does little that's decisive in the movie, but her abrupt decision to dump the guy because he didn't show up, without any explanation, makes her seem shallow and a little stupid.
Not a big point, but the story was set in 2006 (and 2004), but the characters did not have access to the internet. There did not appear to be an internet. If there was one, her first action, if she had half a brain, on realizing she was corresponding with a man from the past, would have been to look him up and see "what's he doing today." If he missed her date, she would have done some more digging. A world with magical mailboxes, I can accept; a world without an internet is actually harder to believe.
It's more than passing odd that in the time-line when he dies in her arms, after being hit by the bus that collided with the car, she didn't remember him. It's true that she had only met him once, at a party, but she had danced with him and kissed him there. Her boyfriend certainly remembered Reeves, enough to recognize him in the street and walk up to him angrily years after the kiss. Why didn't Bullock?
Minor point, but, who was she paying rent to, when she was renting the Lakehouse?
I can understand why he turned around and avoided being killed in the car/bus crash, but it appeared there was no crash in the altered reality. Why didn't it happen? And if it didn't, why did he need to stay away?
The story had so many sentimental elements, and the dog had so much to do with the sentiment, it seems odd that it wasn't around in the final scene. It could easily have been worked into the story, with a tiny amount of thought.
I don't mind a few story holes, but the ones in The Lakehouse could have been avoided with a little care and forethought. It was touching... I do understand why people liked it.... but I also think we have the right, as moviegoers, to expect that the plots will make basic sense. It's fine if they drift into fantasy, but the characterization has to make sense.