Movie Review: The Lake House

The Lake House, starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, is a truly terrible movie. Before the opening credits ended I had a bad feeling and whispered to John, "If it's too sappy we can leave and watch one of the others." He laughed and replied, "Give it a chance."

When I was young and impressionable it would have affected me, but now I have no more tolerance for chick flicks than the average guy, and this one is far worse than most. Utterly humorless, in the one scene in which Bullock laughs I was oddly hypnotized by her obvious, conscious efforts to control the snort.

Afterwards, as we walked to the parking lot, I tried to explain it to John, who was baffled by its stupidity and blamed the two stars. "No chemistry," he said. It's a movie for rich Republican women, I told him. Laura Bush would probably like it.

But she's probably not sentimental enough. It's a film for people who don't know anything about art or literature, but are aware of their status value and therefore attracted to the idea of liking them. The music is annoying. Bullock and Reeves both have an appealing openness and innocence (which is why I chose to see this movie without reading any reviews), but must be embarrassed by now, if they weren't while shooting it.