Secret Window ---- *** (out of 5) (2004)
Cast: Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Timothy Hutton, Charles S. Dutton
Director(s): David Koepp
Screenwriter(s): David Koepp
Released on: March 12, 2004
Reviewed on: July 17, 2004
Rated: PG-13 - for violence/gore, sexual content and language
Based on a short story by Stephen King entitled Secret Window Secret Garden, SECRET WINDOW dives into the mind of a disturbed novelist, showing off King's most familiar writing basis. Johnny Depp, who mentioned that the only reason he joined the film was because he wanted to play a character named Mort, proves to be a fitting choice for the role of Mort Rainey nonetheless. He comes across as fairly down-to-earth and presents himself in this fashion so we can relate to him as an everyday kind of guy going through a tough time. Once the foundation of the plot is built up, you'll quickly understand that Depp is the saving grace for SECRET WINDOW.
After an angry confrontation with his cheating wife Amy that leads to an inevitable split-up, Mort Rainey spends his days living in a lakeside cabin in the woods with his dog Chico. Mort neglects to finalize the divorce and instead wastes time by himself and drifts through his days lazily. In the process of searching for a new idea for a book, he gets a visit from an unknown stranger who claims that Mort stole his story. This man, John Shooter, gives Mort a copy of the manuscript for his story Secret Window. After seeing that it almost identically matches his story of the same title, he sets out to prove that he wrote the story before Shooter. Unfortunately, he fails to meet Shooter's new requests and as a result, begins to face the harsh consequences.
SECRET WINDOW, I'd say for the most part, was consistently suspenseful until the climax where it began to get predictable and, consequentially, tiresome. Its most powerful scenes were the nighttime segments where the invisible presence of John Shooter grew increasingly stronger. Turturro's Mississippi accent is hard to take seriously in the beginning, and Shooter's demands are a bit laughable. He does, however, become gradually more menacing with every malicious deed he carries out. This makes Turturro a solid actor for the role of John Shooter when it comes to delivering the threatening lines and hard, unflinching stares. A few well-chosen supporting actors include Maria Bello as Amy, and Charles S. Dutton as Mort's lawyer.
Not much can be said about the ending on my part without spoiling anything, but let's just say I was somewhat taken aback by it considering I hadn't predicted such a grim finale. I had assumed that things would climax with a heap of action and then end on a sentimental note with the bad guy defeated and Mort and Amy together again. I was wrong on that. I know I need to provide some leniency on movie endings and not except things to turn out a certain way, but for some reason, SECRET WINDOW's resolution really didn't leave me in a good mood. Don't watch this if you're looking for a film that celebrates marriage, humanity, or the importance of decency.
SECRET WINDOW casually does its own thing and plays out in a way that shows off David Koepp's obvious desire to write a mystery story without worrying too much about being unkind to audiences. This was his biggest mistake since most people will tell you that they'd rather have a mystery movie end with redeeming satisfaction instead of a macabre perspective that might leave one disturbed. If you look on Rottentomatoes.com you'll see that the fresh reviews and the rotten reviews are split almost evenly in half on SECRET WINDOW. Some critics appreciated the film's value as a thriller, while other critics were probably discontent with the ending. Put me somewhere in between.
<<<< Back To Contrabandit's Movie Reviews
