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WICKER PARK by Tom McCurrie
WICKER PARK is one strange movie -- as it gets better it gets worse.
(Warning: Spoilers Ahead!)
Written by Brandon Boyce and based on the 1996 French film L'APPARTEMENT, WICKER PARK is a romantic mystery about a young Chicagoan (Josh Hartnett) haunted by the sudden disappearance of his girlfriend (the very blond Diane Kruger) two years previous. After catching a glimpse of what he thinks is his long-lost paramour, Hartnett tracks her down to an apartment. And inside that apartment is a woman who has the same name as his old flame, but looks absolutely nothing like her (dark-haired Rose Byrne). Of course, this doesn't stop Hartnett from bedding her in record time. Then things start to get really weird.
Now I'm a fan of WICKER PARK's director, Paul McGuigan -- he did the stylish gangland drama GANGSTER NO. 1 (2000) with Paul Bettany and Malcolm McDowell a few years back. And McGuigan certainly lays on the style here: we got freeze frames, frames that split into shards and even frames that are just, you know, frames. Unfortunately, McGuigan's energetic helming doesn't quite overcome the charisma-free performances of Hartnett and Kruger; this pair generates as much sexual chemistry and two somnambulists bumping into each other on the way to the bathroom. Rose Byrne's heartfelt turn as the mysterious "new" girlfriend comes off much better.
But the key to WICKER PARK's success, and failure, is its screenplay. The first half of the film, where Hartnett obsessively hunts down his ex and finds another woman in her place, is intriguing enough, like a Court TV thriller with better production values. But it's hardly memorable. Then the script delivers a major twist, and that raises the bar a bit. I admire movies with twists since it shows the writer is working overtime to fool (and please) audiences bored to death with the same tired, predictable plots. In WICKER's case, the twist is that Byrne has taken over Kruger's identity because she has always loved Hartnett from afar. Cool. An obsessive lover (Hartnett) stalked by an obsessive lover of his own (Byrne). A good spin on the ol' FATAL ATTRACTION concept, freshening the story and pulling it up from the Court TV ghetto by its bootstraps.
But if this twist makes WICKER better, the contortions the plot has to go through to justify it make it worse. Byrne and Kruger just happen to be best friends (and neighbors!). Hmmmm...OK. Hartnett and Kruger have a torrid affair, but somehow Hartnett never meets Byrne. Yeah, right. Kruger rushes off to Europe for a dancing gig (that's why she disappears), but instead of calling Hartnett to tell him where she's going and that she still loves him, she asks Byrne to hand him a letter saying so instead because she thinks it's more poetic or something. Huh? Of course, jealous Byrne doesn't pass along the letter, making Hartnett think Kruger has dumped him, and since Hartnett doesn't respond to the letter, Kruger thinks he dumped her (Byrne adds fuel to the fire by telling Kruger that Hartnett is fooling around with another babe). Well...whatever. Cut to two years later, and Kruger is back in town. She's hiding from another suitor, so she asks Byrne to switch apartments with her till the guy gives up and goes home. Byrne agrees to the switch and just happens to be in Kruger's apartment when Hartnett comes a knockin'. Whaaaaaat? And get this, Byrne just happens to be dating Hartnett's best friend (an amusing Matthew Lillard), and through said friend Byrne is able to keep tabs on Hartnett and Kruger to prevent them from getting back together. How convenient! There are also several instances of characters trying to reach each other by phone to deliver/receive pivotal information but busy signals or the old I'm-in-the-shower-and-can't-hear-the-phone-ringing routine get in the way. Ugh!
At this point there are so many contrivances that whatever positives the twist gave the script have been neutralized. A twist simply doesn't work if it takes this many coincidences to make it so. Now coincidences are fine in comedies, but WICKER PARK isn't a farce, it's a sober drama. So the story's major reveal, the thing that should have turned the movie into a winner, instead turns into a poison pill that sinks the whole enterprise.
Twists are good, but twists that make sense are even better.
Responses, comments and general two-cents worth can be E-mailed to gillis662000@yahoo.com.
(Note: for all those who missed my past reviews, they're now archived on Hollywoodlitsales.com. Just click the link on the main page and it'll take you to the Inner Sanctum. Love them or Hate them at your leisure!)
A graduate of USC's School of Cinema-Television, Tom McCurrie has worked as a development executive and a story analyst. He is currently a screenwriter living in Los Angeles.
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