J'aime bien Johnny Depp habituellement et j'aime bien Maria Bello...
encore faut-il un bon réalisateur ! J'ai détesté ce film
*
*
Boring & Completely Unimagined
Author: keithgate from United States
30 March 2004
I was dragged to this movie on a couples night out and the only other option in our one-screen theater in our little town was Starsky&Hutch, which only topped this movie because of the likable actors of Stiller and Wilson. Those that continue to sing the acting acclaim of someone like Johnny Depp are in my opinion either infatuated with him as the opposite sex or just simply uninformed about what "good acting" really looks like. Although I hadn't known ahead of time that this was from a Stephen King book, I had my interest peaked when I saw the opening credits.
It did not take long however to wonder why Stephen would let something like this movie end up bearing his name in anyway. I assume the book was better because it would not have had the distraction of watching Johnny Depp. I had leaned over to my wife after the first visit of John Shooter and told her that I wouldn't be surprised if his character didn't really exist. I had kept watching, waiting for the movie to get interesting, but unfortunately they must have run out of time in the movie to squeeze any of the interesting parts in. The movie was so completely predictable and borrowed from so many other good, original movies that I left thinking the producers owed money to lots of other producers of the movies they stole from.
Now before anyone chalks up my comments to someone that just doesn't like Johnny Depp, you would not be COMPLETELY wrong, but I did not dislike Pirates and actually kind of liked him in Sleepy Hollow and did enjoy him in Astronauts Wife...the movie was just BLAH. The only redeaming quality was the shooting of the scenes where he was talking to himself, seeing how far film making has come to be able to put the same person believeably in a scene is pretty neat.
Anyone who cannot not guess who the killer is in the first thirty seconds of this movie must ride the special bus. The guy is freaking talking to himself! Who else could it be? I can't believe I wasted my time on this movie. I watched thinking, "No, him being the killer is just so stupid, it can't be true. Maybe there's some clever twist." Nope. I actually laughed out loud at the idiotic "shock" ending. Johnny Depp, after talking to himself, sees his wife's car pull up. Then all of a sudden his house is magically a mess and the word "shooter" is carved into everything- oh, except for one spot where Johnny Depp is standing where it says "shoot her." Dumb, dumb, dumb. I can hardly believe such garbage got made- especially with such good actors.
Author: ptb-8 from Australia
20 April 2004
I have been groaning at the easily pleased comments here in the IMDb page about what constitutes a good thriller.......please, folks, surely so many of you must have seen a good film before, because this isn't one. Is this a spoiler? is it possible to spoil this film? I know that American Psycho, Identity, Fight Club and all those psycho others are in their respective heads so I guess it's Depp's turn. I believe he wanted to buy a holiday house so the $5m or so he was paid for this bumpkin bonkers fest would do nicely.
Michael Caine seems to make bad films for the same reason....and so seemingly does Geoffrey Rush...how else can anyone rationally explain why big name actors make silly little films like this ...I am assuming they have seen a nice house somewhere and want a quick easy way to buy it without spending the savings. How silly is John Turturro in this...like some bad Bugs Bunny cartoon character. I'll put as he would say it: "Yow stowle mah money".
Author: drgibson from USA
9 February 2005
Avoid this film. It's a nadir for talented actors Depp, Bello, and the rest. Stephen King's thoughtful tale of pressure and madness has a downbeat but appropriate ending. The film has taken that and turned into a sadistic, unbelievable slasher-trash movie. At times the climax is so bad it delves into gory camp. It's easy to understand why this loser tanked at the box office. Also, the plot twists and turns which worked in the novella are delivered in a ham-handed manner that strains the credulity of the viewer. The only positive for this flop is John Tuturro's creepy John Shooter, but he's not in the film long enough to matter.
Ok, I need to say first of all, Johnny Depp was porteyed the role well. There wasn't any poor acting. There was however a lack of a cohearant thought followed through. Just when there was a well thought out plott starting to happen it was like the screenwriter got tired and just ended it, mid-thought. I like when movies seem to be going in one direction but then end up somewhere else. But there needs to be some flow between the two. This was not the case here. It jumped from one thing to the next and the two weren't tied together. I know how hard it is to write but I also know how easy it is to decide that I don't like how it is going so I will change it and just leave it as is without any segway. Perhaps this was a case of, "there are no poor actors, just bad material for them to work with."
Author: stephanlimanmorocco from United States
15 September 2005
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I have to give this a 1! The Director, David Koepp, is the creator of a show entitled "Hack" How apropos. Mr. Koepp, you are not smarter than the audience. We are not morons. If you are this misanthropic, please pursue something in the non-service field! The concept of the writer creating demons THAT ARE REALLY HIM is the lamest cheesiest hackneyed idea that HAS BEEN DONE TO DEATH. It is not "CLEVER". It is not WOW THAT IS SO TRIPPY. It is LAME AND LAZY.
Ever hear of Fight Club? Angel Heart? Fight Club was a stupid idea also - the ending being "oh it's all one person!" but at least that had a good first half. Then to mis-direct a great actor like John Turturro into playing a Southern-accented "bad guy" oooh spooky! makes it even worse. Wait, let me guess, is he playing the "mysterious stranger". Ooh, how mysterious. How stupid do you think audiences are? Actually judging by how high this movie is rated, you may get another movie made, Mr. Koepp. Please next time, imagine someone in your audience has a brain.
Author: heynow1732 from United States
6 February 2005
This movie is slow, unrealistic and most of all BORING !!! This has to be one of the 10 WORST movies I've ever seen in my life. Johnny Depp's character is so unlikeable, that after just 30 minutes I had grown tired of it. There are no sympathetic characters in this movie. With the exception of the Sheriff, all the characters are cold, and downright nasty. In addition, I was offended by the fact that the writers of the movie went out of their way to hide the fact that part of the movie is set in what is supposed to be an area of the Bronx known as Riverdale. They would not even acknowledge that Riverdale, NY is policed by the NYPD. Instead the detective from Riverdale, identifies himself as a member of the Riverdale police department... No such thing. I guess we couldn't be allowed to think that Johnny Depp could ever live in the Bronx. And what was with his weird accent??? This movie is a must NOT see !!!
Author: driker22 from Southampton, NJ
5 July 2004
A writer/director at his worst! Good actors gone awry. Those are the real secrets of "The Secret Window" After reading the script, with its ridiculous plot turns, Johnny Depp must have decided this was the one to just mug his way through -- and he did. The excellent Charles Dutton, Tim Hutton, Len Cariou (someone find better parts for this Broadway legend) couldn't produce a beliveable character among them. I think we know who to blame.
I promise not to tell the "secret" of this movie. Oh, heck, yes I will. It's perfectly awful! IMDB tells me I have to produce ten lines of text. That's easy: "The Secret Window" is perfectly awful! "The Secret Window" is perfectly awful! "The Secret Window" is perfectly awful! "The Secret Window" is perfectly awful!
