BY LEAH ROZEN
ROMANTIC DRAMA
The bureaucrats running the U.S. Postal Service should check out this love story. Not because it's appealing in a glossy, escapist way, and not because The Lake House is a tick more ambitious than most boy-meets-girl fare (though boy doesn't truly meet girl for the longest time). What might really resonate is the enviable speed and reliability with which our would-be lovers exchange letters.
After packing up her belongings for a move from her lakeside house to new digs in nearby Chicago, Dr. Kate Forster (Bullock) pops a note in the letter box asking the next tenant to forward her mail. Her successor at the house is architect Alex Wyler (Reeves)—except for the fact that he really lives in the past. Huh? There's a parallel universe thing going on, with Alex living in 2004 and Kate in 2006. Across time, they carry on an epistolary romance, exchanging letters via the lake house's magic mailbox. Soon, they—and we—are hoping that they can transcend the years to connect in the flesh.
Lake House, based on Il Mare, a 2000 South Korean film, doesn't hold up under scrutiny. If it's examined too intently, pesky questions of how and why overwhelm a tender tale about two lonely people trying mightily to be together. It's better simply to go with the flow, giving one's self up to the film's romantic premise and the undeniable charm of its leads. Bullock keeps her sometimes cutesy tendencies in check, while Reeves, though still Mr. Monotone, has grown on me over time. What once seemed like youthful vacuity now comes across as likable laid-backness. (PG)
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Jack Black, Ana de la Reguera
COMEDY
The massive whomp that reverberates on the soundtrack every time Jack Black hits the canvas in this movie is a portent. Nacho Libre, directed and cowritten by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), falls thuddingly flat. It takes a sliver of an idea—a cook (Black) who lives in a Mexican monastery secretly tries his luck as a masked wrestler—and fails to develop it beyond squeezing Black into spandex, adding fart jokes and piling on the pratfalls. The movie plods along like an uninspired Saturday Night Live sketch tacked onto the end of the show only because a misguided guest star lobbied for it. (PG)
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Lucas Black, Bow Wow, Nathalie Kelley, Brian Tee, Sung Kang
ACTION
A disclaimer appears at the end of this dopey movie about disaffected teen racers who take hairpin turns at high speeds. Rather than apologize for having dished up such dross, it cautions viewers against attempting copycat speed trials, warning that those onscreen were performed by stunt drivers. What's next? A recommendation that filmgoers not try to fly after seeing Superman Returns?
The third in The Fast and the Furious series, Tokyo Drift features all new characters. Its car-crazy hero, Sean Boswell (Black), 17, moves to Tokyo from the U.S. to live with his Navy officer dad. There, he discovers a type of street racing called "drifting," where a driver half skids, half floats through tight corners and turns. Many races ensue, but Drift remains strictly for motorheads. (PG-13)
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Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Billy Connolly, Ian Abercrombie, Roger Rees
COMEDY
Who wants to explain the bidet joke to young filmgoers? Garfield (voice by Bill Murray), a fat cat with a bad attitude, jumps into a bidet in a London hotel's bathroom and purrs, "Cool! My very own cat tub." He presses a lever and is squirted in the face with water. On second thought, no need to spell out this one for the kiddies. The gush of water in the puss's puss is the punch line as far as they're concerned. Ditto for Garfield's enthusiastic belching and breaking of wind.
In this sequel to 2004's Garfield, our furry hero heads to England, where he is mistaken for a look-alike pampered feline who has just inherited a castle. Combining live action with an animated Garfield, the film will entertain kids but bore even cat-loving adults. As for the human stars, Connolly is fun as a baddie, but Meyer and Hewitt, reprising roles from the first movie, are insipid. (PG)
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Kyra Sedgwick, Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon, Marisa Tomei
DRAMA
This disquieting drama, directed by Bacon (who also has a supporting role) and starring Sedgwick, his real-life wife, traces a parent's dangerously obsessive love. Emily Stoll (Sedgwick), a single mom by choice, is devastated when her 6-year-old son shows an independent streak. It has always been the two of them against the world; now her little "Loverboy" hankers to go to school and hang out with other kids. Loverboy is a slight, self-contained mood piece, but it gives the gifted Sedgwick yet another chance to burrow into a profoundly wounded character. (R)
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>ANA DE LA REGUERA Age: 29 Hometown: Veracruz, Mexico Big move: A star of Latin American telenovela soaps, she makes her U.S. movie debut as a nun in Nacho Libre.
BEAUTIFUL GENES My mom was a beauty queen, Miss Veracruz. My father was an accountant. I was a bad student in Catholic school. And now I play a nun!
PLAYING UP HER ACCENT When I said "puppies," [director Jared Hess] said, "No, no, say 'poopies.' That sounds really, really funny." But I'm trying to lose my accent. I hope it's working. I'm paying a lot of money to my dialogue coach.
KEEPING A STRAIGHT FACE It was hard not to laugh. I was trying to be professional and not ruin Jack [Black]'s scenes. But every time I turned around he was in his underwear.
>Aquamarine ($29.98) A lively family comedy about two girls who befriend a teenage mermaid. Emma Roberts, Julia's up-and-coming niece, stars. Extras: Audio commentary by director Elizabeth Allen and the young stars, plus behind-the-scenes peeks, including one detailing how the fake mermaid's tail was attached and made to swish. Movie: [
Syriana ($28.98) George Clooney, who deservedly won a supporting actor Oscar playing a disillusioned CIA operative, stars in an ambitious but at times confusing drama about U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Matt Damon costars. Extras: Deleted scenes show Greta Scacchi as Clooney's wife, a role that was cut. In an interview, Clooney says he found it difficult to master his smattering of Arabic dialogue. Big omission: No commentary from director-writer Stephen Gaghan. Movie: [
>MOVIE STAR?
He has talked the talk on public radio's A Prairie Home Companion for 32 years, but his acting turn in director Robert Altman's film version left Keillor, 63, bemused.
ON PLAYING A FICTIONAL VERSION OF HIMSELF There's a reason actors act and writers write. But Mr. Altman did all the casting, and when he said he wanted me I said, "Okay." I was hoping for George Clooney.
ON SHARING THE BIG SCREEN WITH BIG TALENT When you act with powerful, experienced, gifted people, they tow you right along. Kevin Kline gave me a compliment on the way I chewed an apple. He thought it was very artistic. I don't know whether he was pulling my leg or not. He is wildly funny, and Meryl Streep is girlish and high-spirited. They tease each other mercilessly.
ON MERYL'S MINNESOTA ACCENT Her accent was perfect—I really mean that. It's quite an accomplishment for someone who went to Vassar. I didn't give her any advice at all. She has an ear for it.
ON HOLLYWOOD FILMING IN ST. PAUL Having Lindsay Lohan in St. Paul—the people of St. Paul were so excited, but they made a point of not ever coming around where we were shooting. This is how we behave in the Midwest. We were so excited that we avoided trying to look excited.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
