WICKER PARK
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Matthew (Josh Hartnett, "Hollywood Homicide") is a NYC investment banker
who is nervous about a major business trip to China he is taking that
evening. At dinner with his fiancee (Jessica Pare, "Lost and Delirious")
and her brother - his boss - Matthew thinks he spies Lisa (Diane Kruger,
"Troy"), the love of his life who mysteriously left him two years prior.
Matthew entangles himself in a web of lies as he drops everything to try
and find the woman he last saw in "Wicker Park."
This hare-brained romantic thriller plays like "Single White Female" as if
directed by a Brian DePalma wannabe who lacks DePalma's sense of humor. No
amount of fancy camera work (Cinematographer Peter Sova, "The Reckoning")
or multi-layered symbolism can suppress the inadvertent hilarity this
poorly acted film evokes - it's one of those 'so bad it's almost good'
types of movies.
After losing Lisa in Belluci's (the restaurant is named after the original
French film's star, Monica), Matthew begins to follow a series of clues,
beginning with a hotel keycard. Letting himself into room 679 of the Drake,
Matthew finds his beloved's silver compact before succumbing to the
sleeping pill given to him by fiancee Becky to sooth his flying jitters
(one of the film's many indulgences in overplotting). Awakening the next
morning alone, he quickly stuffs a newspaper clipping about a funeral into
his pocket and runs to his buddy Luke's (Matthew Lillard, "Without a
Paddle") shoe store (Lady Dragon shoes, perhaps a guilty reference to the
trip he hasn't taken) to beg to borrow his car. From the funeral, he
follows a man, Daniel (Christopher Cousins, "For the Love of the Game"),
who leads him to an apartment where he leaves a key. Breaking and entering
once more, Matthew finds Lisa's size 8 1/2 shoes in the bedroom, but the
occupant of the apartment is another woman named Lisa (Rose Byrne, "Troy")
who begs him to stay because she's afraid of ex-lover Daniel (who is seen
once crying outside of her window, only to disappear from the film like a
phantom).
Matthew's reliance on Luke's car becomes a problem when he makes Luke miss
a date with Alex, an actress who Luke is unusually desperate for Matthew to
meet. She's starring in a woefully conceived off-Broadway adaptation of
Shakespeare's identity switching romantic comedy "As You Like It" (note her
own uni-gender name) where she appears in elaborate Kabuki-style makeup.
In adapting Gilles Mimouni's original French screenplay for
"L'Appartement," Brandon Boyce (of the underrated "Apt Pupil") mixes his
identity metaphors with fairy tale references (Cinderella style shoe
matching and "Alice in Wonderland's" trip down the rabbit hole) and Asian
spicing, but the story's constant flashing back and forward makes for a
trippy hash that at one point has Matthew watching video which a later
scene reveals has not even been left with him yet. Director Paul McGuigan
("Gangster No. 1," "The Reckoning") fails to get any semblance of romantic
connection out of his actors with the once promising Hartnett never
diverging from furrowed brow. Diane Kruger, who merely had to stand around
and look good in her "Troy" debut as Helen, here barely manages that,
appearing like a wanner version of "Femme Fatale's" Rebecca Romjin-Stamos.
Rose Byrne, who had a more auspicious turn in "Troy" as Achilles' love
slave, glazes over for her psycho role here. Stefanie Buxton ("Timeline")
as an American Airlines ticket agent has more personality than either of
the two female leads and Jessica Pare is a victim of a plot that paints her
sinisterly manipulative before cruelly dismissing her. Only the
endearingly goofy Matthew Lillard lights up the screen as Hartnett's needy
sidekick.
"Wicker Park" is a romantic thriller devoid of romance, but it does thrill
with the anticipation of how over the top the filmmakers' next move will
be. If it weren't for its drippy denouement, it might have been a camp
classic.
C-
For more Reeling reviews visit http://www.reelingreviews.com
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