Secret Window Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)March 22nd, 2004
SECRET WINDOW
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Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) has moved into his lakeshore vacation home, depressed over his pending divorce and suffering from writer's block. A knock on his door will bring Mort a whole new problem - a Mississippi farmer, John Shooter (John Turturro, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"), who claims Mort stole his story and published it as the "Secret Window."
Stephen King was already self-plagiarizing his "The Shining" with his 1989 novella "Secret Window, Secret Garden" (think another author in a remote location slowly losing touch, with Shooter a derivative of 'Redrum'). "The Dark Half," his novel published that same year, explores the same themes again, so it would take a real King novice (or movie novice for that matter) to find any thrills in this thriller. Although writer/director David Koepp ("Stir of Echoes") gives the proceedings an unsettling atmosphere and Johnny Depp delivers one of his typically fine-tuned performances, "Secret Window" wraps up with an ending that's as preposterous as, well, the ending of most later Stephen King works.
In a splendid opening sequence, director of photography Fred Murphy's ("Stir of Echoes") camera appears to glide across the lake up to Mort's cabin, in through a second story window (the 'secret' one of the title) and down the stairs, finally resting on a disheveled Mort, asleep on his living room couch. After the threatening encounter with Shooter, Mort revisits his old story which was obviously shaped by his tortured emotions about his marital breakup. When Shooter begins to act on his threats, Mort hires a detective, Ken (Charles S. Dutton, "Against the Ropes"), who handled a previous, similar situation, but Ken is unable to turn up any sign of the man. Meanwhile, Mort's soon-to-be-ex Amy (Maria Bello, "The Cooler") frets with portentous worries while Mort's hostility towards her lover Ted (Timothy Hutton, "Sunshine State") escalates.
Depp's quirky and unique acting choices turned what would have been last year's bloated Disney live action pirate flick into a hip entertainment, but although he invests as much of his skill into Mort Rainey, Depp cannot do the same for "Secret Window." He does make the experience far more watchable than it ought to be, however, with his eccentric, outwardly violent manifestations of his inner turmoil. Watch Depp pantomime shoot his housekeeper, Mrs. Garvey (Joan Heney, "Spider"), or ferociously strangle a phone handset during a conversation with Amy. His dialogue is delivered with an utterly precise timing that spins an arch edge to the words ('Rubbernecker!). Maria Bello also overachieves the material with her portrayal of the conflicted wife. Turturro is amusing slumming it as a single-minded bogeyman. Dutton and Hutton's roles don't give either any facets to explore.
Koepp, whose creepy "Stir of Echoes" was overlooked in the glare of "The Blair Witch Project," takes particle board and gives it an ebony veneer until warp sets in. Production designer Howard Cummings ("Trigger Effect") brings a shadowy personality to Rainey's cabin, which he and Koepp stud with visual symbols of Rainey's emotional state, from mirrors to a blind-in-one-eye dog to a wooden plaque depicting two fish hanging from a hook. But as soon as Koepp literally tips his hat, the jig is up and "Secret Window" derails into the worst kind of horror schlock with ugly, exploitative violence and a sick joke coda that's simply silly.
Most audiences will likely see right through "Secret Window," but fans of Depp may want to give it a glance.
C+
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