Even Johnny Depp in quirk-overdrive can't save it, his slyly insincere performance eventually irritating as much as the sincerely stupid movie he's stuck in.
Secret Window (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:155
Fresh:72
Rotten:83
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: Depp is quirkily entertaining, but the movie runs out of steam by the end.
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Based on a Stephen King novella, the psychological thriller SECRET WINDOW is reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock film. Eccentric author Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) finds his life spiraling out of... Based on a Stephen King novella, the psychological thriller SECRET WINDOW is reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock film. Eccentric author Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) finds his life spiraling out of control. With a drinking problem and a cigarette habit he can't shake, Mort can barely function when his wife (Maria Bello) leaves him and he abandons his work. In the midst of his anguish, a deranged man, John Shooter, (John Turturro) appears at Mort's New York cabin, claiming that Mort has plagiarized one of his stories. As his wife pushes Mort to finalize their divorce and Shooter systematically destroys his life, he struggles to restore order to an increasingly insane situation. Playing off of Turturro who is superb as the crazed, Gothic Shooter, Johnny Depp shines in his role with a quirky, brilliant performance. The mannerisms he brings to Mort, such as a problem with a clenched jaw, makes the author's descent into madness compelling and believable. With an emphasis on character study over special effects, the chills provided by this film rely on skilled acting and evoke thrillers of earlier generations like PSYCHO and STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, including a shocking twist of an ending. [More]
Starring: Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Charles S. Dutton
Starring: Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Charles S. Dutton, Timothy Hutton
Director: David Koepp
Director: David Koepp
Screenwriter: David Koepp
Producer: Gavin Polone
Composer: Philip Glass
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Reviews for Secret Window
Anyone with a passing knowledge of King's jam-packed oeuvre and its spotty movie translations will be fidgeting in their seats from the get-go.
What starts as narration progresses to talking to himself and eventually responding to questions asked by his brain... a trick The Simpsons could claim years ago.
Absorbing and satisfying, just like a good old-fashioned page-turner of a novel.
They had all the makings of a top-notch thriller here, except for original ideas – a deficiency that’s difficult to overlook.
With Depp in the lead, Secret Window never quite slips into mediocrity, but it's not destined to be remembered among King's finest efforts, either.
...an enjoyable little genre picture -- tense and stylish and full of Johnny Depp.
Secret Window, a hack job patched together from bits of Stephen King's earlier, better stories, is such a cheeseball it ultimately subverts even Depp's considerable charm and talent.
What we've got here is a Sunday night on-the-network style movie with an acting virtuoso (Johnny Depp) raising the mundane material to viewable, enjoyable, fun.
A second helping would be hard to justify were it not for Depp, whose manic idea of comedy seems right for a Stephen King thriller.
...[only] the latest King thriller to be defenestrated onto the screen. The hack finale buried whatever hope I had for Secret Window to keep me from eyeing the door.
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March 07, 2006:
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April 13, 2005:
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