The Lake House 2006

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A pretty soap bubble of a movie. It's lovely to look at and calming to watch, but don't try to touch it - it just might pop and vanish, right there in your hand. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: This is a project whose elements, from concept to script to casting, refuse to follow the usual formulas, which is good, yet they never quite cohere. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The pieces of the puzzle don't fit together to form a coherent or satisfying narrative, and all you're left with is a big, dumb 'Huh?' Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Engaging. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: I was hot to trot for the exit halfway through, but a dogged sense of duty kept me stuck in an endless present. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: This is one of my favorite movies so far this year. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Even if you are willing to suspend your disbelief, the film still has some problems. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Even with a low-wattage pair like Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, the concept is too touching to deny. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Instead of paying attention to the love story, you'll be staring at the capacious holes in the plot. While the premise might seem hard to understand, it's really not. It's just hard to swallow. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: As soon as Kate lets drop that her favorite author is Jane Austen and the Nick Drake songs kick in on the soundtrack, you know this movie won't be taking any prisoners. Don't fight it with logic, because you'll lose. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: A chronological brain-teaser confounding enough to keep you busy trying to figure out whether those holes are in the story or in your logic. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The film moves toward a spooky coincidence that canny viewers will predict in the first act. I wish I hadn't; it killed all the film's suspense and much of its dewy seduction. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: There is a germ of a good idea in the notion that an imaginary suitor can be more powerful than a real one. But director Alejandro Agresti isn't the man to pull it off. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The Lake House swamps its heart-aimed ambitions with too many head- scratching moments. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The Lake House may float your boat if you're starved for romance, but really, love deserves better. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The only real magic in The Lake House is that Kate and Alex have never heard of e-mail. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: The list of inconsistencies is far too long and laborious to recount. Read more

Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News: The joy lies in getting there, with lush visual direction by Alejandro Agresti and appealing performances by Ms. Bullock and her old Speed co-star Keanu Reeves. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Kleenex won't be necessary for watching the wannabe weepy The Lake House, but some sort of pain reliever is essential - because trying to determine whether this time-travel romance functions logically will seriously make your head hurt. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Remember what a fun couple Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves were in Speed? Well, forget that. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: It may have a nice view, but this is one house with a decidedly shoddy foundation. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Somehow, one thinks, your tear ducts will come away from this without incident. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Those wishing to suppress real-life traumas may submit to the deliriously stupid romantic time-travel drama The Lake House -- I did and had a jolly time. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: A bit too moody and metaphysical for its own good. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: The time-warp romantic fantasy The Lake House is a puzzle that is maddeningly obtuse, emotionally overstretched and virtually absent a sense of interior logic. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: I have always felt that both Ms. Bullock's patented expressions of anguish and Mr. Reeves' stoical minimalism have been somewhat underrated. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It doesn't quite work, but it fails with warmth. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Even for those who buy into the basic ideas, there are credibility gaps that The Lake House cannot surmount. And for those who attempt to apply logic to this movie, everything will come crashing down like a poorly balanced house of cards. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Enough of the plot and its paradoxes. What I respond to in the movie is its fundamental romantic impulse. It makes us hope these two people will somehow meet. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: I couldn't spoil the plot if I wanted to, since I have no idea how it all ties together. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's a delicate, hyper-romantic atmosphere, pensive and steeped in longing, that covers over the story's inconsistencies -- or at least offers enough distraction to make us not care. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: We also know the last time Keanu and Sandra shared the screen together. That was yesterday and Speed. This is today and Snail. I'm not betting on a tomorrow. Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: There's only one answer to this epistolary screen romance: Return to Sender. Read more

Anna Smith, Time Out: The Lake House demands a serious suspension of disbelief, but if you accept it as a romantic bit of nonsense, it has its pleasures. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The Lake House is one of the more befuddling movies of recent years. The premise makes no sense, no matter how you turn it around in your head. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: [The Lake House is] for profundity through multiple story levels that aren't fully realized. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: Watching it is like being force-fed cotton candy laced with Xanax (or vice versa). Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: The Lake House has the sensibility of something conceived by Stephen King after an overdose of chocolate-covered cherries and valentine cards. Read more