The Montclarion

Issue date: 3/25/04 Section: Arts and Entertainment

 


When I saw the trailer for The Secret Window I thought this film could be interesting. But, the hopes for an entertaining suspenseful movie ended when I saw the film's rating. The Secret Window was rated PG-13.
Given that a PG-13 rating suggests that this film would be inappropriate for children under the age of 13, I thought that since this was an adult cast and dealing with adult situations it should have been given an R rating.
Many suspense/thrillers today have went to the PG-13 rating in hopes of bringing not only the adult audience, but also the teen audience. In giving a suspense/thriller a PG-13 rating, the film may not be as effective given the fact that the adult situations are toned down.  
Johnny Depp stars as Morton Rainey, a recently divorced mystery writer who is being accused of plagiarizing another person's story and publishing it as his own. The accuser, John Shooter, played by John Turturro wants Morton (Depp) to acknowledge that he indeed stole his story and ask, that Morton finish his story. Morton refuses Shooter's offer and goes back to writing his own stories.
Shooter does not take rejection well and starts to invade Morton's life, which includes keeping an eye on not only Morton, but the company that he keeps namely his ex-wife, Amy, played by Maria Bello and her fiancée Tom, played by Timothy Hutton.  
Based on the short story of the same name by Stephen King, The Secret Window lacks suspense throughout the movie.
To tell the truth, this film seems to be reminiscent of another film, but you have to see it in order to know which film I am talking about.
The film becomes predictable after awhile, which is bad when a suspense film is supposed to keep the audience guessing all the way to the ending. I was surprised to find out that David Koepp wrote and directed The Secret Window.
Koepp is mostly known for writing screenplays for Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Trigger Effect and the 2002 hit, The Panic Room starring Jodie Foster. The Secret Window sadly does not match up to the other movies he has written and most of them were suspense related. Here is a question, could the rating of The Secret Window be its fault or the screenplay?  The performances in the movie were lukewarm. Johnny Depp's character, Morton Rainey, was the only well defined character in The Secret Window. Depp's performance was well done and more intense than the character of John Shooter. The introduction of Shooter to Rainey and the movie audience was abrupt.
When Shooter appeared throughout the movie he became very irritating instead of being scary. The Secret Window honestly should have been a made-for-TV movie instead of being released into theaters. If you plan on seeing The Secret Window, it would be your best bet to catch on it on a matinee and form your opinion of it. The Secret Window could have been better, but there are more Stephen King novels and short stories to adapt.

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