‘Lake House’: Don’t waste time traveling to see it

I have to admit to being drawn to overly sentimental love stories. Somewhat guiltily I will confess that one of my favorite romantic films is 1980’s “Somewhere in Time,” starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve. On the famous poster for “Somewhere in Time” a tagline reads, “Someday in the past he will find her.”

As I am willing to suspend belief and accept that even time can be overcome by true love, I was not averse to seeing “The Lake House,” another tale of love in a time warp. In this case, the story is of sequential residents of a remote lake house who fall in love via correspondence. The only problem is that one of them lives in 2004 while the other lives in 2006.

The film opens as architect Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves) moves into a rundown lake house in 2004. The recently departed former tenant, a Chicago doctor named Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock), has left him a note in the mailbox asking him to please hold any mail that does not get forwarded by the post office. She apologizes for the dog prints by the front door and the box in the attic, which was there when she moved in. Alex is puzzled as neither the dog prints nor the box exist. Upon closer inspection, Alex notices the letter is dated 2006. Alex, in response, leaves a note in the mailbox which leads to continued correspondence across the two-year span.

Both Alex and Kate are somewhat empty souls who are battling demons. Alex has recently reconnected with his emotionally detached father Simon (Christopher Plummer), a world-renowned architect whose imperiousness has estranged his entire family. Kate has just finished her residency in Marion and is now employed as a doctor at an understaffed metropolitan hospital. Kate is absorbed in her work and struggles to maintain a relationship with her controlling boyfriend Morgan (Dylan Walsh). The correspondence is precious to both of them, and despite never meeting and the seeming impossibility of it ever happening, they become the most important people in each other’s lives.

“The Lake House” is a sweet story that is fairly predictable throughout. How the time gap came to be is never explained. A key feature in the film is the shared pet dog named Jack who is somehow able to traverse between 2004 and 2006 at will. Kate seems to exist in both time periods as Alex is able to meet her at various times, in one instance with the help of the dog. On the other hand, Kate seems to be stranded in the future and is unable to find Alex on her own in 2006. This is all more than a tad confusing and is never sufficiently reconciled.

Sandra Bullock is a likable actress and she is sympathetic to a point in this film. However, it is inconsistent that a thoughtful woman of such accomplishment would accept a relationship as empty as the one she shares with Morgan. Alex himself is damaged goods and doesn’t seem to have ever successfully dealt with his father’s neglect or narcissism. Alex never appears to be a flesh-and-blood character mainly due to Reeves’ usual wooden performance. Reeves is better in “The Lake House” than he has been in many of his previous films, but that is faint praise.

As much as I wanted to embrace “The Lake House,” I find myself unable to recommend it wholeheartedly. It has the feel of a TV movie-of-the-week rather than a first-run production. I can’t say this is a particularly bad film, but it is one that can wait to be seen on DVD.