A rare visit to The Lake House

I am going to see the preview screening of The Lake House, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, next Monday.

I seldom go to the movies these days, may be once a year. And I almost never watch any Hollywood movies in a cinema. So why The Lake House?

Well, the motoring association I belong to sent me an email some days ago asking whether I would like to win a double pass to this movie. Normally, I am not the kind of person who enters into any lucky draws. But since all I needed to do was to respond to the email, I did it, without paying much attention to what the movie was about, except knowing instantly from the movie poster that it would be a silly romantic story.

Then I was informed I won the double pass and received it and a promotional pamphlet the next day. And then I began to realise ... ah, The Lake House, the Hollywood adaptation of the Korean film Il Mare (aka Siworae, 觸不到的戀人), starring Lee Jung-Jae (李政宰) and Jun Ji-hyun (全知賢).

Now I wouldn't call the original a masterpiece, but it was definitely one of the better products from an industry on its ascendency. Beautifully shot, harmless to watch, all in all decent entertainment for two hours or so.

Is the Hollywood adaption better? I'll know after Monday night. But it seems from reading reviews on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes that the audience quite liked it, while the critics found it too silly. Could this be the new Somewhere in Time?

(photo credit: Yahoo! Movies)