Genre: Thriller/Horror
Director: David Koepp
Starring: Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria
Bello, Timothy Hutton, Charles Dutton
RunTime: 1 hr 40 mins
Released By: Columbia TriStar
Rating: PG
Released
Date: 12 August 2004
Synopsis
(Courtesy from Columbia TriStar):
Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp), a successful author, is passing
through a hard period in his life. After catching his wife
sleeping with another man, he divorces and moves away from
the city to somewhere in the country. One day a man appears
at his door, presenting himself as John Shooter (John Turturro),
and accuses Mort of copying a story from him. Although Mort
believes things can be solved once he shows Shooter the original
version, which had appeared one year before Shooter's version,
he can't seem to be able to get an original copy in the time
limit set by Shooter. Strange things start happening which
prevent him from recieving the needed original and Mort tries
to find out who Shooter really is and if he is responsible
for the things which happen.
Moviexclusive.com
Review:
Johnny Depp stars as a successful writer, Mort Rainey
in a midst of a painful divorce. Things got worse when a
stranger (John Turturro) turns up at his doorstep and accused
Mort of plagiarizing his story. If you are a regular movie buff,
you should have spot the essence of "Secret Window"
within
the opening of the movie. No joke. Of course, Depp's
performance never fails to brighten up the screen, immersing
himself in the role of Mort Rainey and dragging the audience
into Mort's world of solitary and claustrophobic atmosphere.
David Koepp ("Jurassic Park", "Spider-man",
"Panic Room") who wrote and directed the movie has
little elements to play with except the creepy lake house, Depp's
performance and complicating camera angles. "Secret Window"
is best viewed
plainly for the off-bit humour and cast performance.
The secret, suspenseful elements just never show up.
Movie Rating: C+
StoneApe
Review:
Secret Window is nothing original. Is has been done before and
better, I would like to provide a good example but then it will
probably spoil the surprise. In a nutshell, Depp plays a writer,
whose life is,
pretty much going down hill. He is going through a divorce,
he is having writer’s block and he slept pretty much of
the time. Kind of like a typical writer in most movies. Then
one day, this guy John Shooter played by John Turturro [the
butler in Mr. Deeds] claims that Depp stole his story. And from
there onwards, things get weirder and messier.
You probably won’t be that surprise once you figure
out the mystery, Most probably you will find yourself getting
even more confuse. There are certain parts that upon your
first viewing probably won’t make any
sense. Unless you watch it a couple of times or maybe it is
best if you had read the novel. However, I heard the book
is different from the movie.
The movie is neither slow nor boring, in fact actually quite
funny at times but sad to say is not suspenseful enough.
Johnny Depp is the only reason why this film is worth a watch.
The guy is a brilliant actor. He is very convincing in his
role and he's in pretty much every single scene. If it is
not Johnny Depp portraying the main lead, chances are, this
film will probably be a flop. The rest of the cast are pretty
ok. I was surprise to find ‘Coyote Ugly’ Mario
Bello as Depp’s wife. I didn’t recognize her till
I saw her name.
Watch ‘Misery’ starring Kathy Bates instead ,
another movie based on the novel by Stephen King. That one
is much better and more suspenseful.
Overall, not worth the $8.50 price. Go for the weekday shows
or best just rent the DVD/VCD.
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