Movie Review: "The Lake House" starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves

A romantic tale that tips lightly into the realm of science fiction, as a story of two people who fall in love two years apart. Sandra Bullock's and Keanu Reeve's on screen chemistry and the beautiful backdrop of the Wright-style lake house help to overshadow the choppy storyline flow and potholed plot. "The Lake House", is a throughly modern fairy tale with the usual happy ending.

Kate Forrester (Bullock) who's been struggling with what to do with her life, leaves the lake house to take on a residency at a hospital in Chicago. Shortly after she arrives, a man is struck by a bus in front her on February 14th. She fights to save his life, but he dies anyways. She then retreats back to the lake house and by chance notices that a reply has been written to the letter that she left for the next tenant.

Alex Wyler (Reeves) moves into a lake house that was previously owned by his famous architect Father, who's he's been estranged from for the past 4 yrs. He's currently working on developing a string of condominiums but finds the work, and his secretary Mona, predictable and unappealing. He manages to find the letter, left behind by Kate, but becomes perplexed when it cites a box of non-existent items in the attic, and dog prints on the walkway that aren't there. Putting the letter aside, he doesn't bother to write a reply until after a mysterious dog appears, walks through the paint he was using, and tracks paw prints all over the walkway.

Kate, confused by the letter that Alex has composed stating that no one has resided in the house for years, retorts that she did indeed live in that house and that it's also been "2006, All year." And requests that any mail that he may receive be forwarded to her address, "1620 N. Racine, Chicago".

Confounded by the comment that it's "2006", Alex proceeds to try to find Kate at her residence, but only manages to find a vacant lot with what will one day be luxury condominiums. He returns to pen a reply citing that she must be mistaken about not only where she lives, but what year it is as well.

Kate figuring that he's playing games with her, leaves him a scarf, and a note stating that if he really does live two years ago, that he'll need it, and plenty of fluids, as there was a freak late snow and everyone got sick. Alex shrugs this off until it does indeed begin snowing before his very eyes and he also catches a cold that very instant as well.

Then, as Kate goes to pick up the latest installment of the letters, Alex, in his time, notices the mailbox flag drop. And, as she replaces it with her reply, watches it rise again. They then pass notes back and forth, until Kate gets tired of it all, and goes home. Finally then admits she to herself that maybe what's happening is real, and that they should introduce themselves.

After joking through their written introductions, they both discover that they're single, they have the same dog, and what they do for a living. Alex, intrigued by all this, decides to give Kate a guided tour of Chicago's historical homes via a map. She later admits that she misses the trees by the lake house. Alex, in a sudden epiphany, rushes a tree to her future home and plants it. In the future, Kate is getting drenched by a torrential rain, but is suddenly sheltered by a tree that mysterious sprang up from no where.

Trying desperately to understand what's going on Kate turns to her mother for guidance. Alex, himself struggling not only with what's happening with Kate, but trying to gain the acceptance of his estranged Father, turns to his younger brother whom he's recently reunited. They both have a poignant conversation in which he points out his Father's fallacies with creating the lake house that he now resides in.

Kate then prompts Alex to retrieve a present she intended for her Father, but left behind at train station. Alex, finally getting a glimpse of Kate, retrieves the book and promises to return it to her in the future. Kate later asks Alex to call her at a certain time, but her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Morgan, phones instead inviting her out to dinner. While out, he inquires about why they never got married, and she cited that he wanted too much from her. He then reminds her that she was too distant in their relationship and that she was even intimate with a man she'd never met before at a birthday party he'd thrown for her.

After ignoring Mona's advances, Alex chases frantically after "Jack", the dog, when it bolts from the back of his truck at the park. It finally does stop until it reaches a man trying to juggle boxes into his home. Alex, after having a short conversation with him, finds out that he's Morgan, Kate's boyfriend, and that tonight is Katie's birthday. He later shows up, but fails to get Kate's attention at the party as she feels overwhelmed by the amount of people that Morgan's invited. She escapes to the front porch where Alex finally manages to get her to talk to him by asking her what "Persuasions" by Jane Austin is about. She then later reveals that the only man she's loved to date was a boyfriend she had when she was 16 yrs old. And that her Father recently passed away. They shortly thereafter start dancing and share a tender kiss before being interrupted by Morgan and Mona.

Kate realizes that it was Alex in the past and argues with him for not telling her it was him at the party in the first place. Alex in turn tells her that she would've regarded him as "insane, drunk, or both". They continue to argue until Alex is summoned to his ailing Father's bedside. He passes shortly after. Kate, who found out that his Father has died in the hospital's files, leaves him a printed copy of his Father's memoirs that showcase a photo of him and his Father together in front of the lake house. Alleviating Alex's greatest worry that his Father didn't love him.

Now confident that he wants to see Kate any way possible tells her to chose a place where they can met. She reminds him that this will be two years in the future, and he adamantly agrees that he will show up. On the proposed date, Kate waits until the restaurant closes, but Alex never shows. Feeling rejected, she writes to Alex that it's best that they don't have anything to do with one another again.

Refusing to give up, Alex continues to write even though it's obvious that Kate is no longer reading his letters. In a finally act of desperation, he leaves the development project he's working on, rents the lake house to Morgan, and moves in with his younger brother to begin work on their new architecture firm, "Visionary Vanguards".

Time passes for both Kate and Alex, and while Kate has reunited with Morgan, Alex hasn't moved on. It isn't until Kate finds her copy of "Persuasions" in a lose floorboard in her apartment, that she looks into getting a home for her and Morgan that requires a little renovation. They both visit an architecture firm specializing in renovations. While there, she notices a technical drawing of the lake house, and inquires as to who drew it. Finding out from Alex's brother that it was him, she tries to find out where he's at. He then tells her that he died in an accident on Valentine's Day two years ago when he was struck by a bus at Daily Plaza. Katie, in a frantic rush to inform Alex of his impending doom, returns to lake house, leaves a letter, and prays that he receives it. In her letter, she begs him to wait until this day to finally meet her. Her hopes are answered when the tell-tale mailbox flag drops and his truck slowly pulls up afterwords. They embrace and proceed back into the lake house with Jack slowly trailing behind.

The main theme behind the film is waiting. Both Kate and Alex ultimately have to endure four years of waiting before finally meeting at the end of the film. "Persuasions", the book that Kate was trying to give to her Father, and that Alex kept for her, was about two people who meet, but due to current circumstances can't be together, but reunite several years later. There's also a scene with a young patient in the hospital where they're watching an older film and the young girl tells her that the woman in the movie should wait for another man.

The script writer ignores the paradoxes that the store presents in an effort to keep the film on track hazardously hoping that his majority female audience won't notice the potholes that the film's plot has been rendered with. Luckily the story keeps great pace with dialog that's well-match to creative scene splicing. Though some of the back story drags tends to drag the main plot, "The Lake House" manages to maintain itself as an addictive love story that's well-worth the wait.