So much average

Great Film overall

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

"Wicker Park" is an absorbing romantic mystery about lost love, obsession and tangled relationships and the puzzle at the heart of its convoluted story is made more interesting by its non-linear narrative. Misunderstandings, coincidences and deception all play their parts in what takes place and its neat twists add enormously to the enjoyment of watching this rather intense and often unpredictable drama.After living in New York City for a couple of years, advertising executive Matthew Simon (Josh Hartnett) returns to Chicago with his fiancee Rebecca (Jessica Pare) and attends a business lunch at Bellucci's restaurant ahead of a planned business trip to China. When he catches sight of a woman he believes is his ex-girlfriend Lisa (Diane Kruger), he immediately follows her and after failing to catch up with her, keeps a hotel key card that he finds in the phone booth that she's just vacated. After Rebecca waves him off at the airport, Matthew decides not to catch his plane and instead goes off in search of Lisa.Lisa was the girl who, as well as being the love of Matthew's life, had left him heartbroken two years earlier when she'd disappeared without any explanation and had never contacted him since. Their relationship had started when he'd been working in a Chicago camera shop and fell in love with her at first sight. Matthew had initially stalked her for a while not realizing that she was aware of him and when their paths eventually crossed, it became clear that she was also attracted to him. Their relationship continued until Matthew was offered a more lucrative job in New York City and suggested that they relocate and move in together. Lisa agreed to meet him in Wicker Park to give him a decision but instead stood him up and left him completely puzzled and heartbroken by what she'd done.The key card he'd found in the phone booth leads Matthew to a room in "The Drake" hotel where he discovers some further clues that lead him to what he believes is Lisa's apartment. When he breaks in, he meets another young woman who's also called Lisa. She tells him that she'd stayed at "The Drake" to avoid a man who was stalking her and explaining that she's terrified of him, says that she'd feel a lot more at ease if Matthew could stay the night with her. He agrees to this and is subsequently seduced by the apparently grateful Lisa.One night, Matthew's best friend Luke (Matthew Lillard), insists on taking him to see a Shakespearean play in which his girlfriend Alex (Rose Byrne) is one of the players and after the performance, Matthew leaves promptly not knowing that the heavily made-up Alex is, in fact, the woman who'd so recently seduced him. Most of the reasons for everything that had taken place involving Matthew, Lisa, Alex and Luke are eventually revealed in a meeting that takes place in Bellucci's and this prompts the determined Matthew to go back to the airport in the hope of finally tracking down the girl he loves.The nature of the movie's plot generates a disconcerting atmosphere that's beautifully complemented by the use of numerous film noir motifs such as the use of mirrors, the presence of doubles (e. g. 2 Lisas, 2 characters who fall in love at first sight etc.), a character who uses more than one identity and the way in which the past has such a strong hold over the present. Similarly, its splintered chronology, use of split screen techniques and flashbacks that provide multiple viewpoints, are also all highly effective in serving the same purpose. There's a marked difference between the relaxed, spontaneous Matthew who's seen working in the camera shop and the rather distant-looking young man who doesn't seem to have his heart in it when he's at the business lunch at Bellucci's or the jewellery store he visits with the intention of buying a ring for Rebecca. In his very natural performance, Josh Hartnett reflects such changes in his character's demeanour with some skill and subtlety and Diane Kruger and Matthew Lillard perform capably in their roles. Rose Byrne, however, outshines everyone else in the cast as the deceitful, obsessive and clearly unhinged Alex who's also both hateful and pitiful."Wicker Park" is a movie that has to be seen more than once in order to fully appreciate it and this, no doubt, must've had some effect on the level of commercial success that it achieved.

The one thing that works here is Josh Hartnett. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but he just seems real and a really nice guy. Of course, for all I know he's not...but I enjoy watching him in films.The other thing that sort of works here are the other performances. Rose Byrne, Diane Kruger, and Matthew Lillard (in a more normal performance that how we usually see him) all do nicely.But to me, there's a huge problem that overshadows everything else. For me, the key to a good mystery is not making it too mysterious. And here I had the idea that the screenwriter and director were intentionally playing it real crafty, particularly with an excess of flashbacks, to the point that it got very confusing, particularly in the first half of the film.And to top it off, there is one scene that I felt was just one of the worst I've ever seen in any film -- when Harnett cries in a close-up. You can overdo the "he's very sensitive" routine, and that scene did. And, he's supposed to be overseas on a job and is risking that job by his love crisis. Geez! The film is creepy enough to hold your attention, but it could have been done just so much better, with less confusion. I'm tempted to give it only a 6, but tales of obsession are almost always intriguing, so I'll stick with a shaky 7.

Released in 2004, "Wicker Park" is a drama/mystery/romance about a young Chicago advertising executive (Josh Hartnett) who falls in love at first sight with a woman (Diane Kruger), which leads to a growing relationship that abruptly ends. Meanwhile his best friend (Matthew Lillard) starts dating a woman (Rose Byrne) who is more – or less – than what she appears. Jessica Paré and Christopher Cousins have small roles. This is an extremely well-made movie with a "hip," kinetic flair, but a convoluted, non-linear story that makes your head spin. While it's not as effective as other non-linear movies, like 1994's "Pulp Fiction," the last act ties everything together and is pretty impressive, but it's almost tiresome till then, although things perk up when Rose Byrne appears early in the second act. Anyway, it's just mind-boggling to think of all the details the filmmakers had to keep track of to put the story together and make it make sense in the end. The movie explores the "love at first sight" phenomenon and the crazy things love or obsession make people do. The film runs 114 minutes and was shot in Chicago, Montreal and New York City. GRADE: B-

I haven't seen the (highly regarded) original French film "L'Appartement" of which "Wicker Park" is a remake, but there is one specific plot point - the non-use of cell-phones - that seems to be carried over from the 1996 film and is much harder to swallow in 2004. Also, the ending is a tad conventional. Other than that, however, "Wicker Park" is a very good movie: visually hypnotic, emotionally compelling, and intellectually challenging. It is put together like a puzzle, jumping back and forth in time, with a remarkable attention to detail; midway through it even shifts perspectives and makes you re-consider who is actually the main character in the story! Josh Hartnett is fine, but Rose Byrne steals the show with her affecting performance. An underrated film. *** out of 4.