The Lake House

The Lake House is basically about well, a lake house, which two occupants who lived there 2 years apart found that they could, miraculaously exchange letters between themselves through the house little mail box. Inevitably, they both found themselves falling in love with each other.

The movie begins with Kate (Sandra Bullock) moving out of the lake house in 2006 just as Alex (Keanu Reeves) was moving into the house in 2004. Before she left, Kate left a note in the mailbox, requesting any new tenant to forward her letters to her new address.The note is then found by Alex, 2 years earlier. It didn't take them long before they realised they are communicating across time and continue their correspondence as pen friends. Alex would then also met Kate, before she moves into the lake house and realised he really has fallen in love with her, at about the same time, 2 years later that Kate remembered back the same meeting. But when he failed to turned up for an agreed meet up 2 years later, Kate give up on that romance without giving him a break or trying to find out what happened. It was very obvious to me that in an accident scene in the beginning of the movie, Alex was the victim. The only reason he did not show up was because he died. Unfortunately, Kate only found that out another 2 years later. Wouldn't that make it 2008 then? The film even take us into the future.

The spoiler being, Kate found out that Alex got killed in 2006, shortly after their correspondence began because she has told him where she would be the Valentine of that year. Alex attempted to look for her there and met with a fatal car accident. 2 years later, she would find out about the accident and rushed to the lake house to forward a warning to Alex. The question then remain if Alex would find the letter in time before he set out to look for her. Knowing Hollywood, the studio probably film a version of each ending, one where he lives and one where he died. Obviously, screen test shows the more popular ending is he lived so he was saved from that accident and meet up with Kate 2 years later.

Do we feel sorry for Alex waiting so faithfully, 4 years in total, to reunite with Kate? Do we get frustrated at Kate for letting go too early or not trying to find Alex? Do we jump for joy when Alex avoided the accident because Kate's letter reached him through time, on time?

Unfortunately, interesting as the story is, we were not moved by any of the event. Although the plot was interesting, the movie failed to make us feel. Maybe the characters were just too nice, you know, the kind of people we can really grow fond of after we know them for a couple of years? Unfortunately, we only have less than a couple of hours so we never really grow to care aout them. Too bad.