*high five* to Kal-El; I think it's pretty clear from the posts in this thread, mrhan, that I'm hardly the only one offended by your diarrhea of the mouth...

Okay, I'm sorry. Really. Damn, it's just funny that you and that other poster sound like a couple of girls throwing a hissy fit over a chick flick. LOL

I believe you and accept.

Scratch that; I don't believe you and I don't accept. Moderators, does this guy at least get a strong warning? First he spoils plotlines, then becomes outright insulting when called on the carpet for it...

A spoiler is a spoiler is a spoiler.. No matter what movie it's for.

Can he be banned?

Damn, you guys need to relax. I didn't mean to spoil anything. I really meant my apology but I find it so funny how you guys respond to something so insignificant or meaningless in the long run.

Edit: fixed my original post for whoever hasn't clicked on this thread yet. Filmmaker, I suggest you fix yours since it is still clearly being seen there.

What you call "throwing a hissy fit like a little girl", we call frustration. First of all, check which forum you're in. "Movie Talk". So in case you've missed it in the last 4 years you've been registered here, the board is mostly populated by people who love movies. And while for you--and I admit, for me as well, but not to the same degree as yours--what you did may be "insignificant", within the confines of this board and discussion, that was a pretty lousy thing to do and to act all smug and condescending afterwards is just wrong. Why do you think we have a Sticky Thread at the top of the board dedicated to instructing new people on how to post spoiler tags?

Two thumbs up from Ebert and Roeper.. "One of my favorite movies so far this year." -Roeper. They're both fans of the time travel genre :).

you'll learn soon enough this site complains about damn near everything.

and why do you think that is? there's a reason why things are the way they are. some suggested reading...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...22544?n=283155

anyways, if it were my guess on how the movie would end,

I enjoyed the experience of watching the film unfold, though it got a little hairy at the end with the time travel aspect of the notes being exchanged between Alex and Kate, played by Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bulloch, respectively, at the mailbox of a lake house that was occupied by each characters, but 2 years apart. Additionally, the impact of changing events if you could communicate with someone in the past, and other ripples of such changes in the time stream, the mind boggles at times, but thankfully the film doesn't get bogged down in such minutia and moves in step with the burgeoning, and complicated love affair that develops from notes exchanged through a time-portal of a mailbox.

I did like the pairing of Reeves and Bulloch a decade after from their initial pairing in "Speed", the on-screen chemistry was still there.

Yes, there are perhaps some head-scratching levels of non-inquisitiveness shown by Kate of present-day Alex, but it could be explained away by her not wanting to ruin a good thing with the exchange of notes and letters, while being inside a time bubble or sorts.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

I had the same reaction as you. The movie doesn't really bother to explain the time travel or get bogged down in the mechanics, it completely bypasses them and moves on that you don't even stop to think about it.

Until the movie hits a point where it uses the time travel device to change the story/history you don't really think about it...and then it starts falling apart if you think about it too hard (well, maybe at all).

The movie ultimately feels really old fashioned, the romance never takes place in person, only in narration. Its interesting that one would even get sucked into that kind of story, credit for that goes to Bullock and Reeves.

I think if you're inclined to see it, you should and you'll probably like it. If you were turned off by the trailer, then there isn't enough in the movie that will change you mind, so save your money.

Really tried to suspend belief during this movie...but I couldnt help but have questions pop in my mind about the plausibility and therefore spent more time thinking about it then enjoying the movie.

Thought Sandra Bullock spent most of the time looking down in this movie, but when I saw her face (a lot of close ups) she looked beautiful. Keanu did a surprisingly unstiff acting job her, kinda like in "A Walk in the Clouds" where a romantic lead was believeable with him. I think he looks better as he has aged.

I give it a sideways thumb, just saw it last night and still digesting it.

(I spoilerized the above because, while it doesn't give away anything specific, it might make it easier for someone to see what's coming.)

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Both leads were personable, particularly Bullock. One must suspend much disbelief and it probably isn't wise to try and piece together all the time elements because it would at least somewhat fall apart. But I am a total sucker for time travel as in Back to the Future or Frequency so this film had a big head start with me from the beginning. I'd give it ***¼/****.

As an aside, I know it's not something the movie wanted to deal with or was about but if such a thing as this were really to happen, why wouldn't Kate feed Alex a few sports scores so he could get very rich? Then he could hide some of the money and tell her where to look and she could be rich too. As a White Sox fan and because the film was set partly in Chicago, I particularly think telling Alex that the Sox won the 2005 World Series would have been cool. I would expect Alex, upon receiving such information, to say "Whoa!"

I'm just sayin'. :)

Yeah, I don't know if they were trying to hide that, because it was clearly obvious (to me). Some people gasped when it came up...so I guess not everyone figured it out.

If you have or haven't checked out "The Lake House", I highly recommend you check out the original Korean film, "Il Mare".

Here is my DVD review of "Il Mare": http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=22293

...just don't check out this version since it's audio is chinese and neglects to include the original Korean.

From a basic standpoint, both <i>Il Mare</i> and <i>The Lake House</i> remind me of <i>The Love Letter</i>, a Hallmark movie from 1998 (IMDb link). I'm sure the whole "sappy romantic time travel pen pals" theme goes back much further. Just an observation.

Hallmark movie huh???

:sarcasm:

I'll let you off the hook since it has Jennifer Jason Leigh in it.

-wink-

I agree, the pairing again, worked for me as well.

As a fantasy-romance film I quite enjoyed it.

My wife read a short story many years ago that used the same concept. So, the movies could all draw from that. I think she said in the short story, the number of letters they could was limited and they knew they'd lose contact with each other.

Haven't seen "The Love Letter" so I don't know what happens there.

Saw this flick tonight and really liked it. I got confused in some parts but liked it overall. Reeves and Bullock still have the fire between them.

I liked it a lot. At times it does get kind of annoying trying to figure out the 2 year time difference thing for a second while watching the movie but that comes with the territory. A couple parts were hokey like when they would almost converse as if they were talking face-to-face but they're still writing letters to one another. And at times it was amazing how bad Keanu was at just reading the narration of his letters.

I found this ironic:

I ordered Il Mare on your and others' recommendations after seeing The Lake House. It arrived today and my wife and I just watched it.

What a wonderful film! Beautifully shot, beautiful music, wonderful performances. A little more subtle than The Lake House with less given away as it went along. I like both films but would have to say I prefer Il Mare for its gentler touch. Thanks so much for the recommendation.