STEPHEN KING’S SECRET WINDOW-WHAT WENT WRONG?

 Stephen King’s Secret Window, David Koepp, director, 2004   

 

Perhaps Johnny was to fat for the role?

Give us your take, so Johnny Depp can finally brood in peace. The best response will receive a free copy of John’s new poetry book, “Acting Lessons.” 

 

 

 

STORY: A recently-separated writer needing a haircut is stalked by an Amish terrorist obsessed with plagiarism.

 

 

HOOK: Traditionally it is: 1) the director, 2) the story, or 3) the actors. Give us your take on why this film about writing a short work based on one by today’s most popular writer should have hit the Recycle Bin instead.

 

JOHN: Director David Koepp is so proud of his (which differs somewhat from King’s original) that he repeats it three times in the film. Other problems, besides Depp’s self-indulgent performance, there are way too many flashbacks to explain the improbably and when a character not only starts asking himself questions but starts answering them in weird sounding variations of his own voice we know the exposition of the movie is in serious trouble. The comparison with Misery doesn’t help either—that was so much better. Look at how Patricia Highsmith’s books rope us in. We agree with the amoral choices of a character and then are forced to accept the out-of-the-box consequences. In this case we are led to sympathize with Depp but the movie has purposely withheld everything we should have known for the sake of a gimmicky climax. We are not just tricked, we feel betrayed. Stephen King is a very cinematic fiction writer, why is it that half the film adaptations of his work stink?

 

GO – 1 GO out of 4  

 

 

 KEEPER: “The only thing that matters is the ending.”

  

SPANKY: Believe it or not, John, I am about to answer your last question. The storyline becomes interesting when we realize the “Secret Window” is about a writer confronting life through his art in a way he is not able to directly in life. If Misery was a reader’s frustration with a writer, this novella (not a short story by the way) illustrates the writer’s frustration with himself. Unfortunately, a guy lying around unable to cope doesn’t make for much of a dramatic scene. That’s where these B-movie directors runaway with the idea in order to appeal to the 12-year old boys who actually go to the movies. That may work with a story about teenage revenge (Carrie) but here the back-story is divorce and the death of a child. Hamming it up as Depp and Turturro do, doesn’t help either. If it were just a bad idea, that would be one thing, but a bad idea gone awry is even more disappointing for discerning viewers. Secret Window is one of those movies that gets worse the more you think about it.

 

0 BARKs out of 4