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Movie Review - Wicker Park (2004)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Paul McGuigan |
| Starring: |
Josh Hartnett, Rose Byrne, Diane Kruger, Matthew Lillard, and Jessica "No Relation to Michael" Paré |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for sexuality and language) |
| Length: |
115 minutes |
| Genre: |
Drama/Romance |
| Tagline: |
Passion never dies. |
| Studio: |
MGM |
| Website: |
Wicker Park |
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PLOT
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Matthew (Hartnett) is an investment banker on the rise. He's about to become engaged, and he's preparing
for a very important business trip to China. While in the bathroom at a restaurant, he hears a voice
through an air duct that sounds familiar. He rushes out and catches a glimpse of the back of a girl's
head. Naturally, he assumes it's his long-lost love, Lisa (Kruger), and like any sane man, he rearranges
his entire life to stalk the girl to see if it is indeed his former love. The artsy weaving of a tangled
web and Josh Hartnett's unibrow ensue.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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What exactly is Josh Hartnett's appeal? Ever since I saw him in Halloween H20 he's been spitting
out one wooden performance after another, and his role in Wicker Park is no different. All he can
do is squint his eyes, talk in a deep voice, scare us with his unibrow, and attempt to look like a young
Tommy Lee Jones.
His bland, monotone performance had a lot to do with lessening my enjoyment of this film. Beware,
throughout the movie you'll constantly be reminded that he obviously graduated from the Keanu
Reeves/Paul Walker school of Surfer Voice Acting, and unfortunately, it's sometimes distracting
enough to pull you out of the actual story.
What's worse is I didn't find his character to be all that likeable. In the interest of fairness,
Stephanie (who is not a Hartnett fan either) thought he did all right here. She actually started to
feel sympathetic to the character. I, on the other hand, thought the guy was a bit psycho and really
didn't concern myself with his happiness.
Let's see, he has a slight inclination that a girl in a restaurant is the girl he once loved but hasn't
seen in two years. What does he do? Well, conveniently for him she accidentally leaves her hotel room
key behind, so he decides to break into her hotel room, steal her compact, lay down on her bed, and
sniff her pillow. Then, he steals a note that somebody else left under her door, and he leaves his own
note. Keep in mind, HE DOESN'T KNOW FOR SURE THIS IS REALLY HIS LONG-LOST LOVE! In my eyes, this behavior
is just a tad extreme. In Stephanie's eyes, "Love sometimes makes you do strange things." In the law's
eyes, this is worthy of criminal prosecution.
You're gonna also want to suspend disbelief for this one quite a bit. Hartnett misses a "very important"
meeting in China, and his soon-to-be fiancée doesn't find out? No one would've called? And the way
everybody juuuuust misses out on actually getting in touch with each other is a little unbelievable.
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the movie. The story is actually pretty interesting because the
mystery of what's going on is handled quite well. A lot of the story is told in flashbacks. Some of
the flashbacks go back a couple of years to when Matt and Lisa first met, but I really like how later
on in the movie the flashbacks involve a different character's point of view of a scene we saw earlier.
If you're not paying attention, then it can be confusing at first. But once you see how
everything is coming together, it all makes perfect sense.
The only thing I can say without giving too much away is that Hartnett is determined to find out if he really
did see his lost love, and then from there you've got five people who are tangled up in a web of complicated
relationships where some people may not be who they seem, lots of people are lying, and plenty will end up
crying.
So basically, Wicker Park is a big jigsaw puzzle. All the pieces are thrown on the table, the corner
pieces are laid down first, and then everything else is pieced together in a non-linear fashion. Cool, that's
great! But one of my problems is that the director tried to make everything just a little too artsy, and it
was obvious he was patting himself on the back after every "artistic" use of slow motion and rotating
cameras.
You'll have to forgive me, but watching Josh Hartnett dance in slow motion or make out with a girl in slow
motion is nothing but fast forward material for ol' Johnny Betts. Girls who love Hartnett will love this sort
of thing, but guys like me will turn to their buddy and start making fun of it. The beatniks will stroke
their pencil-thin coffeehouse goatees while discussing the symbolism of two characters drinking coffee out
of wine glasses, but I just kept wanting to get back to the meat of the story.
In my opinion, Matthew Lillard and Rose Byrne turned in the best performances. Byrne does a great job
of displaying a range of emotions with her character. I know a lot of people won't agree with me,
but I felt the most sympathy towards her. That's all I'll say. And Lillard provides a few nice doses
of comic relief during scenes that were getting a bit too heavy and soap opera-ish.
All in all, I got into the story once I started to realize how everybody's path crossed. Before that, we are
witness to some stuff that appears to be absolutely ridiculous. But you've just gotta hold on for the
revelations. The story is told with style, unfortunately, Hartnett doesn't display enough personality to
make me root for him to find his true love, and he certainly doesn't need to be attempting any more crying
scenes in the near future. Oh, and Josh, razors are pretty cheap; you should look into getting one.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- This is a remake of the 1996 French Film L' Appartement starring Monica Bellucci.
- Interestingly, there is a "Bellucci's Restaurant" in the movie. Coincidence? I don't think so.
- Paul Walker was originally cast as the lead role, but he dropped out because of scheduling conflicts with
2 Fast 2 Furious.
- There was no Pier One product placement in this movie.
- At one time, Brendan Fraser was also supposed to star.
- At one time, Joel Shumacher was set to direct.
- At no time did Johnny Betts care.
- Josh Hartnett was in Here on Earth with Stuart Wilson who was in Slow Burn with Josh
Brolin who was in The Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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There are a few random profanities (a handful of "s" words and one whispered "f"), but they're not overly
abundant. There is no nudity, but there are a couple of scenes of sexuality that are definitely too
much for the kids. In fact, overall the movie is just too heavy for youngsters and would most likely
bore them.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The trailer sets things up decently, but it also makes the movie seem like a thriller when in actuality
it's a romantic mystery. Warning: The trailer gives away a little more information than it should.
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THE GIST
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Wicker Park does a good job of keeping you guessing how the mystery will play out, and I appreciate
the unconventional storytelling, but the romantic angle didn't work as well for me. I freely admit that
females who like Josh Hartnett and slow motion will get more mileage from this. If you like a good
puzzle of a movie, then this will keep your attention. Just be wary of Hartnett's scary unibrow.
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