The Lake House…

Leah crashed early cause she had a long day, and the boys went to be without a fight for a change. So there I was, nothing to do or watch. When he was here, Chris had left some burned DVDs for us to watch. One of them was ‘The Lake House’… that romantic movie staring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Leah had already seen the movie in theatres, but I wasn’t able to go cause it was a girls night out only. So since it was just me, I popped it in and took a gander. It was a good movie, better than I thought it was going to be. I cute premise, but nothing earth shattering or spectacular.

One thing I was thinking about when I was watching the movie was how the director/writer took the easy way out. Without giving away the details or spoiling anything… they went with the warm, fuzzy, feel good ending. I’m sure many people like those kind of endings, but they are a dime a dozen in Hollywood. If I was the director of this film, I wouldn’t have messed with the timeline that badly and I would have splattered Keanu all over the road and made it the saddest finish in film history. There wouldn’t have been a dry eye in the house, and that would have been an ending filled with ‘what if’ and ‘maybe’ from wall to wall. It would have pissed off a lot of people, but it would have stuck with them. Out of all the chick flicks, this would have been that ending that stuck out and broke eveyrone’s heart. That’s the ending that would make them tear up everytime they thought of it. The fuzzy ending it has will fade with time, just another cute cop out.

Playing it safe doesn’t make the stuff people want to remember. Films are not the same unless they have that really horrible ‘life is shitty’ momemnts. Movies with scenes that bring us to tears is what make them unforgettable. We live in a world where shit happens, and when people see it on screen they connect with that person, and feel their pain. It happened when Shirley MacLaine freaked out at the hospital when the lazy staffers didn’t give her sick daughter her meds on time… and again when Sally Field has a shit fit in the cemetary after they burred her character’s daughter played by Julia Roberts. Moments like this in the movies are not to be feared but encouraged. These movies are immortal because they were not afraid to pull at our heartstrings and give us all something to understand and sympathize with. I think ‘The Lake House’ had a chance to not match but get close to the power those films had, but instead chose to back off and play it safe.

That’s not the kind of director I want to be if this film thing manages to get off the ground. I don’t want to play things safe and do the same old same old. I want to shock people and hit them with things they never see coming. Everyone can make a movie where the girl and the guy ride off in the sunset, and given the right time and place that’s a cool thing to watch. Yet sometimes people don’t want to watch that. We want to see the bad guy get away or the good guy make a mistake. After all, to error is human and what better way to make your character more like his/her audience then to make a few every now and then. Sure the cliche ending that Lake House has is nice, but if the ending had Sandra/Keanu’s first meeting simultaniously be their last… that would have been earthshattering. And that kind of wowing is what was missing from this movie and made it nothing more then the same old, same old. Such a shame… and a waste. Life can’t always have a happy ending, and it’s always good to toss a curve every now and then to keep people on their toes and possibly the edge of their seat.

This entry’s theme reminds of a conversation that was in Clerks. The two guys were there commented on their favorite Star Wars movie, and one of them clearly stated that Empire was his favorite specifically because it didn’t have the happy ending. Luke lost his hand, Han’s on ice and being shipped to Jabba and the Empire handed the rebellion their asses on the planet Hoth. The point was many people like this movie because it proved to them that even their heroes had shitty days too. It made them more human that most super heroes and that’s what made Empire so appealing. In humility and defeat, we felt closer to them all. Another thing we had in common with them at that moment when they watched the falcon fly off into the distance, was the look in their eyes. They knew that despite the crappy day they all just had… it was only one day. There was another day on the horizon and they could try again. And so can we…

Peter