The Lake House

First thing I have to say is that I love Sandra Bullock. Her looks are cute but not over the top and her acting is good so it always makes for a believable character whenever she’s involved. Keanu on the other hand usually comes off as stiff, one-dimensional and laughable (sorry Keanu, but it’s not just me thinking this) however in The Lake House , Keanu conveys emotion, he is believable and you can’t help but root for him. I did not see Keanu Reeves in this movie, I saw Alex Wyler and that was a nice change. Maybe Keanu should do more Romance movies, he rocked this one.

The Lake House is a movie about two souls transcending time to be with one another. Borrowing from the ideology of soulmates and finding “the one”, the story behind this movie really touches on how patience and effort will pay off in finding your one true love.

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Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) is a doctor who has to move from her glass lake house in order to pursue a job in Chicago. Writing a letter to the next potential tenant, she leaves for her new flat in the big city. Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves) is an architect and the new owner of the lake house and upon reading the letter notices some inconsistencies and writes back to point them out to Kate. After a few correspondences, the two realize that they are not in the same time period and Alex is in fact two years behind Kate. They also realize that they have a few things in common and really enjoy writing to one another. The writing turns into a strange relationship of sorts and Alex begins to do things in the past that Kate can see, for instance writing a message into a building he is working on or planting a tree outside her condo when she tells him how she missed the trees by the lake house. Soon Kate starts remembering times in her past where she had run ins with Alex, where they had even kissed in the past and could have dated. Soon their wont to be with each other becomes unbearable and Alex sets up dates in the future to meet with Kate and soon realizes that playing with time could literally mean life or death.

I really, really liked this movie, the pacing was decent, the plot was predictable but not blatantly so and it was good to see Keanu Reeves act. My only gripe was with the mysterious mailbox… it seemed as if the mailman never went out to the lake house since letters would stay inside of it indefinitely until either Kate or Alex removed them. The side stories of Alex, his brother and his detached father was a brief distraction but not necessary and Kate’s estranged relationship with Morgan, the stereotypical corporate stiff was a bit typical. All in all, the ending really surprised me and the overall story worked.

I would urge you to buy this movie for your collection or rent it as a date movie (you will get some for it… allegedly… if you do please post comments and details to www.spicymoviedogs.com).

Greg Dragon – who has written 381 posts on Spicy Movie Dogs.
Cinephile and opinion writer, Greg Dragon has been a fan of movies since the 80's when Kung Fu theater was all the rage and Roger Moore was James Bond. As an opinion writer that has reviewed Box Office releases on a number of prominent websites, Greg is the founder and lead critic of Spicy Movie Dogs.