I picked up Wicker Park at random at my local Blockbuster. After watching the first 20 minutes I found myself bored: ok, Matthew is a young up-and-coming businessman who, on the eve of a business trip overseas, runs into a woman who he thinks is his long-lost love Lisa. So he cancels his trip and starts hunting for her. Where is this going?



But in the end, I'm so glad I braved on. The plot thickens and the appearance of a brunette Lisa starts to make things interesting. Even though Harnett's acting leaves much to be desired, Australian actress Byrne simply gets better and better as the film progresses. The film does involved quite a number of flashbacks, but, contrary to the Amazon official reviewer's complaint, they are very easy to follow. The director uses flashes (literally) to let the audience know they are watching a flashback. Even without these cues, the "time travel" is not confusing at all -- and I'm someone who usually loathes flashbacks (or flash-forwards).



I have not watched the 1996 French flick of which Wicker Park is a remake (man, can't Hollywood churn out any good originals no more?), so I'm not going to make a comparison of the two. But Wicker Park stands well on its own. After Alex's appearance, the plot has enough suspense to make the remainder 90 minutes quite enjoyable. Ultimately, it's a love story: unwavering love and desperate love, never-ending love and secret love. If you ever felt a long-lasting crush on someone, this is a great film for you. Even if you never did, this is still a film worthy of two hours.



The only gripes I have of the film are, first, there's no nudity at all (a sexually charged film with no simulated sex?!), and two, I never understood the Daniel character.