Wicker Park

Starring Josh Hartnett, Rose Byrne, Matthew Lillard and Diane Kruger, Jessica Paré
Screenplay by Brandon Boyce
Based on a screenplay by Gilles Mimouni
Directed by Paul McGuigan
website: www.wickerparkmovie.com

IN SHORT: Just a dateflick, with all the plusses and minuses that implies. [Rated PG-13. 115 minutes]

Imagine a screenwriter clever enough to make the end of every single scene deliver a surprise. Not just the usual big surprise at the end that catches you unaware and pushes you out the door with a big, satisfied smile on your face. No. A film that drops a surprise on you roughly every one point seven three minutes. Give or take a point or six. We'll save you the trouble. It's real cute the first half dozen times. It starts to wear thin the next half dozen. Or think of it this way: for every step forward, take two steps back and then one and a half steps to the side and then repeat all the dialog from a different perspective. Not a character perspective, as in the Japanese classic Rashoman. Either a different camera angle or a different sequence of edits are the only clues as to what is really going on in this story, and then you get to the final act of the film. Once you get there, the real surprise -- the only one that is so important that even if you are bored silly by the constant double tracking of all the little surprises -- will floor you.

That being said, those who adore the art house circuit and, most important, haven't missed a single second of any part of this film -- those who don't walk in late and/or those who don't look down to find the straw in your soda or a good piece of popcorn or candy -- will find it a perfect ten of ten on the cineaste sob scale. For the rest of us shlubs, pay close attention. Assuming that the cleverness doesn't rub you the wrong way, you may be pleasantly surprised. The women in our audience raved all the way out the door. Some of the men were complaining that following Wicker Park was too much like work, and those that did follow the twists and turns still complained about the complexity. Guys, bring a date and keep quiet until it's done.

Don't miss the first two minutes or you'll miss the film's setup and be left thinking too much about how clever the writing is -- just like us. Then again, every review we checked (to find out what we missed) ripped Wicker Park to shreds. That wasn't our reaction, so maybe you should miss the first minute <g>.

Simply put, once upon a time, the love of Matthew's (Josh Hartnett) life up and left him without explanation. Crushed, he moved to New York. Two years later, and now engaged to the boss' daughter, Rebecca (Jessica Paré), he is emotionally healed enough to return to Chicago for some quick business before continuing a trip to China. He sees Lisa (Diane Kruger), a dead ringer for the one that got away. Wicker Park proceeds to become the closest thing to a movie about stalker than any romance should -- and for reasons verging on unbelievable coincidence, Matthew finds himself face to face with the wrong girl. Her name is Alex (Rose Byrne) and if we even began to try to explain her end of the story and how it links to the attempt at comic relief provided by Matt's pal Luke (Matthew Lillard), at least fifty percent of y'all would throw your hands in the air and surf to a different site.

Heck, we're not clever enough to summarize this thing and still keep its story linear in our brain. Wicker Park falls smack in the middle of disposable dateflicks that adequately kill two hours in the dark without being too painful to endure. As noted above, at least half the dating couple will "get it" and that's what dateflicks are, ultimately, all about.

On average, a first run movie ticket will run you Ten Bucks. Were Cranky able to set his own price to Wicker Park, he would have paid . . .

$5.00

That's dateflick level. Forgive us for repeating our self but, once we caught up to the frenzy of the story's editing job, we didn't mind the sit at all.

	Click to buy films by Paul McGuigan
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	Click to buy films starring Matthew Lillard

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