Secret Window
Cast
Johnny Depp .... Mort Rainey
John Turturro .... John Shooter
Maria Bello .... Amy Rainey
Timothy Hutton .... Ted
Charles Dutton .... Ken Karsch (as Charles S. Dutton)
Directed by
David Koepp
Rater #2 has description and review.
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
4/10. In my opinion, Johnny Depp is one of the most overrated actors out
there. Although I haven't seen two of his major works, Edward
Scissorhands and Ed Wood (the latter's DVD which was pushed back), I
was just never a fan. Even his over-the-top performance in Pirates of
the Caribbean couldn't really save it. And in Secret Window, his
first major role since Pirates, there was a way he could pull through
to save the sinking movie, but he only added to this disaster.
Instead of pulling what could be a plausible performance, he creates
quite possibly the most annoying character ever to come onto
celluloid.
Depp plays supposedly famous writer Mort, who is working on his next
novel in a secluded cabin in a secluded forest in which everyone
knows how to get to and where there's an unlimited supply of Doritos
and Mountain Dew. One day, an odd man named John Shooter (John
Turturro) comes up to his "secluded" cabin and tells Mort that his
story "Secret Window" was stolen by Mort. Unless Shooter gets proof
that Mort wrote it first, he will do very bad PG-13 things to him and
people around him.
Based on a Stephen King "novella" (aka a story he couldn't pad out to
700 pages), Secret Window could have been about the isolation felt by
Mort as he's working alone on writing something (but then again, it's
exactly like The Shining...he'd be plagiraizing off of his own
work!), or it could have gotten into the tormentor's head (see also:
Misery). But instead, it focuses on Mort's "daily routine" and his
worthless inter-personal relationships with one-dimensional
characters that exist for stupid "plot" developments later on. And
once writer/director David Koepp's (who wrote both Panic Room and
Spider-Man screenplay gets psychological, it's a complete ripoff of a
certain cult movie from 1999 (I won't say which one, because the
ending might be the only surprising part of the movie for you).
There were a couple tense scenes, mainly starting out with random
jumps to get us "in the mood". Then there's the overbearing Philip
Glass music score. I think that Secret Window could learn something
from movies of the 70's, and that's that music isn't necessary for a
suspenseful movie. Many movies back then didn't even have music in
them for most of the time. Everyone who dies was obviously going to
die, and as the movie drew to a close, it just became more and more
clich�d.
Three of the four main characters were impossible to like, so it was
impossible to feel anything with them. Mort was obnoxious, lazy,
stubborn, and spoiled, and how are we supposed to care about a guy
whose biggest decisions are whether to put ice in his Mountain Dew or
not? Amy (Maria Bello from The Cooler) popped in at random times to
call someone she supposedly hated (who is Mort, and I wonder why...).
Ted (Timothy Hutton) thankfully didn't have much to do, so his
annoying character couldn't be developed much. However, Turturro did
a subdued, over-the-top role and made his character a welcome
presence. Overall, though, this movie is chiefly for teenage girls who see it for Johnny Depp (what DO they see in him?) or for some
stupid, cheap scares.
Rated PG-13 for violence/terror, sexual content and language.
Running time: 96 minutes
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