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THE LAKE HOUSE

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What You Need To Know:

THE LAKE HOUSE is a romantic fantasy starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Bullock plays Kate, a single doctor forced to move from her lake house to work at a new hospital. She leaves behind correspondence asking to have her mail forwarded to her new address and receives a note from Alex (Reeves), which oddly has a two-year old postmark on the envelope. Alex, it turns out, lived at the lake house before Kate lived there and is communicating with her in the future. At first playful and exciting, their odd predicament, which defies boundaries of time, becomes more serious and frustrating as they fall in love.

THE LAKE HOUSE has all the ingredients of chick flick melodrama. The recipe is as predictable as the plot’s resolution. The final product is an eye-roll and smirk-inducing date movie that will quench the appetite of overly-sentimental viewers, but leave most checking their watches by the movie’s halfway point. THE LAKE HOUSE is happily devoid of many immoral elements that taint modern love stories. It does, however, have a strong Romantic worldview telling people to follow their heart. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.

Content:

(RoRo, B, LL, V, A, M) Strong Romantic worldview emphasizing following one’s heart and a brief reference to nihilist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche with some light moral elements portraying love between family members, respect for elders and caring for the sick; brief foul language includes three light obscenities and eight mostly light profanities; very brief violence depicting commotion after a pedestrian is struck by a car (although the occurrence is not portrayed); no sex; no nudity; light alcohol use in several scenes; no smoking or drug content; and, a woman cheats on her boyfriend by kissing another man.

More Detail:

THE LAKE HOUSE is a romantic fantasy starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

Bullock plays Kate Forster, a single doctor who is forced to move from her lake house to work at a new hospital. She leaves behind correspondence asking to have her mail forwarded to her new address and receives a follow-up note from Alex Burnham (Reeves), which oddly has a two-year-old postmark on the envelope. As the two begin flirtatiously corresponding through letters, they soon realize their communication inexplicably defies boundaries of space and time. Alex, it turns out, lived at the lake house a couple of years before Kate lived there and is somehow communicating with her in the future. At first playful and exciting, their odd predicament becomes more serious and frustrating as they begin to fall in love. Heeding the lessons from her favorite novel, Jane Austen’s PERSUASION, Kate must learn to wait for true love’s mysterious and unpredictable timing.

An American adaptation of Lee Hyun-seung’s acclaimed Korean romance IL MARE, THE LAKE HOUSE has all the ingredients of chick flick melodrama, and the recipe is as predictable as the plot’s resolution. Take a sulking, aging single woman, a dopey-eyed hopeless romantic, coat it with sappy dialogue dripping with extra cheese, and let it bake for about a hundred minutes. The final product is an eye-roll and smirk-inducing date movie that will quench the appetite of the overly-sentimental audience member, but leave most checking their watches by the movie’s halfway point.

The biggest problem with THE LAKE HOUSE is similar to Kate and Alex’s dilemma, one mocked by the laws of space and time. Because they communicate mostly through writing one another, which is presented to the audience by voice-overs, little chemistry is developed between the two love birds. The story fails to reveal why they are so taken by one another. Thus, their supposed connection seems rather forced.

At one point, Alex’s brother offhandedly quotes Friedrich Nietzsche, telling him, “Life would be useless without music.” Perhaps it’s no coincidence that one of the movie’s few redeeming qualities is its stellar soundtrack, which includes great tracks from Nick Drake, Paul McCartney, The Clientele, and Tom Waits.

THE LAKE HOUSE is happily devoid of many elements that taint modern love stories, such as sexual content and excessive foul language. The movie also contains many instances of moral behavior. The main characters exemplify compassion for those suffering, respect for elders, and love for their family.

THE LAKE HOUSE does, however, have a strong Romantic worldview telling people to follow their heart. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.