Yes, it's true. In THE LAKE HOUSE, Keanu Reeves (playing architect Alex Wyler), best known as NEO from THE MATRIX (in itself perhaps best known for Neo's classic flat line reading: "Whoa."), actually does some emoting, and it's good. Good. Alex is a frustrated architect, looking to fix up a glass house on Lake Michigan that his famous architect father (Christopher Plummer) designed when their family was happy and whole, as a way of retrieving something from his past. And then Alex finds a letter in the mailbox...
...from a "previous" tenant, asking to have mail forwarded to a Chicago address. The tenant, Dr Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock), has left the house to return to Chicago and begin her job at a large metropolitan hospital. Which, unfortunately, is not the same Chicago hospital where "ER" is located and where the gorgeous, dark doctor Luka -- Goran Visnic -- works, or this might be a whole other love story.
Anyway, Kate finds herself now involved in her work, a caring doctor, with a wise Persian boss-doctor (Shohreh Aghdashloo) who has an inexplicably Polish last name, a widowed mother with a German accent, and, need I say it, no man to call her own.
Alex and Kate begin a correspondence, based around the Lake House mailbox, during which each realizes the other is the exact one he/she has been looking for. They're perfect for each other. So go on a date already, right?
Here's the rub: Alex has just arrived to renovate the house, but Kate found it already sparkling and renovated. And her forwarding address is just a construction site when Alex goes there. Hmm (rubs chin). What does that tell you? It's a love story ACROSS time, of course, what did you think? Luckily, the time involved is only 2 years. Alex is living 2 years behind Kate, who is living in our present. Oh, and then our future, or something. Or some time. Whatever.
I'm making fun, but the movie delivers a moody romance without dwelling on the physics of the situation, and I've got to say, I LIKE Sandy and Keanu on screen together. They've really got chemistry, certainly more than she has with her movie boyfriend, the schmucky Morgan (Dylan Walsh). This makes you want them to get together, despite the time hitch, and when they make a plan to do so, you can't wait for the moment... Ah, but no spoilers here. I'll just say that the 2-year time difference ain't the only problem Alex and Kate have to overcome. But with the help of the magic mailbox (or was it the magic dog? We never could figure it out), a crapload of romantic gestures, and all that chemistry and Neo-moting, we get treated to an interesting story and a fresh take on the romantic drama.
BTW, if you are looking for funny Sandra Bullock, don't stop at the Lake House; it really is a drama, with sad moments, but no ha-ha jokes. And Keanu looks really good in the turtleneck & suede (or corduroy) jacket look that he sports for socializing. Really good.