I'm ashamed at how many times I've seen The Lake House. I'm also ashamed of owning the DVD and having gone to see it in theaters, dragging my mother with me because she was the only person who would agree to go. But I guess that only enhances the level of shame I have, because even my own mother didn't want to go see this movie. She suggested a couple of others instead, and she only went because I begged.
I'm genuinely ashamed of this. I mean, it weighs on my soul that I like watching this movie and I question my taste when certain cringe-worthy lines and scenes come up (ie: Keanu Reeves crying at a desk), but I can't. I'll still watch it, like tonight.
Yes, it was on tonight, and instead of going to a panel discussion on James Joyce (my initial plans), I found myself at home, watching this movie, eating popcorn and ice cream, while I cleaned out my closet, listening to these melodramatic lines about unguarded eyes and the smell of trees.
Yes I am quoting this movie.
And now you know why I am ashamed.
Basics first: Kate, played by Sandra Bullock, moves out of a lake house to work in Chicago at the hospital. Alex, an architect played by Keanu Reeves, moves into said lake house and receives a letter from Kate about forwarding mail, but (here's the kicker), her building in Chicago hasn't been built yet and she wrote down the wrong year! Say what? They're talking to one another through two years' difference with Alex in the past and Kate in the future!
Okay, so you now know why I am sincerely ashamed, but I just can't stop watching. I can't because...
1. Jack and Annie are together again.
Yes! It is the desired reunion between Jack and Annie that I wanted to happen in Speed 2:Cruise Control. I honestly watched the beginning of that movie thousands of times just to hear about what happened to Jack (he apparently gave Annie mace for her birthday, and she mistakenly thought it was perfume). The one time I watched it in its entirety, I had this big hope that Jack would come in and save that cruise ship the right way, because whatever his name was was doing a stupid job of it.
I got on a Speed 2 rant didn't I?
Well, I at least get to pretend that this is Jack and Annie...um...through time...and with different names...and careers...um... Just let me pretend, okay? Jack and Annie somehow got thrown through time, and this is what happened! Instead of a bomb on bus, there is some sort of black hole in the mail box so they can have deep conversations!
2. Time Travel.
Did I mention there's an aspect of time travel? Any sort of time travel, I'm usually game, such explains my love for Doctor Who, but this movie hinges on something magical like a mailbox that can transcend time! And instead of trying to win the lotto or even report it to the authorities, they just talk and make a connection and fall in love. But alas! They can't do anything with all of the feelings they're emoting because of the time travel aspect! How is this going to work out?
I mean, while it's sentimental and sweet that they write letters to one another in a very traditional woo-ing way, it's pretty cheesy. There's this whole line where Alex describes running into Kate in the past and is all "long brown hair, gentle, unguarded eyes" and I want to hit something because that is the worst line I have ever heard on film.
Or even the time they have an argument and Kate's all "Wonderful. We have a comedian. What did you have clown for breakfast this morning?" Weakest argument ever.
You know, the funny thing is, I can hear how ridiculous this is, and I'm struggling to think of justifications, but I've already committed to defend this movie. So here I keep going.
3. [SPOILER] The twist.
Not sure if this counts as a separate point, because it's actually a complaint. Then again, it's one of the reasons why I keep watching, so I guess it counts?
Technically, this ruins what I understand to be the time traveling aspect of the film, because at the beginning, when Kate's eating lunch with her mother, a man gets hit by a car right in front of her, and she can't save him. This has a profound effect on her, so she goes back to the lake house to find some peace, and it's then she finds the letter from Alex. This starts their entire correspondence!
So when Kate decides to go stop him from seeing her, this would prevent her from freaking out, going back to the lake house, and starting all of this!
Instead we get this:
Because it's Hollywood, and they live above things like the rules of time travel. Never mind that a major point was altered. He could have altered meeting her earlier actually. Because they tried to meet later, not knowing that he DIED. If we're just screwing around with time now, might as well screw that too, huh, Hollywood?
4. The girl inside me likes that he plants a tree.
Did that sound like a euphemism? Is it dirty that I thought it could sound like a euphemism?
There's a scene where he plants a tree in front of her building, and it just magically pops up when she's running inside, two years grown.
He also finds copy of Persuasion she left at a train, which she asked him to get for her, and she finds it years later in the floorboard of her apartment. Then of course there's this scene:
He figures out that this is her house, and he risks seeing her.
I don't know. I guess I just find it sweet that they make it work through all of those years of separation, it's kind of nice.
Even if it is cheesy.
I don't know. I don't know why I like this movie. I know when I sit to watch it, I sincerely cringe aloud at some of Keanu's lines and forward through scenes, but I'll still watch it. I still stand the melodrama. I even came out about it here. For any person to stumble upon. That's commitment.
The only thing is: where is the bathroom in this lake house?
