"Wicker Park" started life as the 1997 French film "L'Appartement" ("The Apartment"), a much-acclaimed and award-winning film for director Gilles Mimouni.
The 2004 American remake starring Josh Hartnett ("Pearl Harbor") is opening nationwide this weekend (Sept. 2) to mixed reviews.
The storyline is compelling: a young man on the verge of marriage and a new career catches a glimpse of Lisa, the old flame he's never forgotten, who disappeared two years earlier under mysterious circumstances.
He puts everything on hold to try to track her down. The film follows the twists and turns of that search. His best friend and fiancé are pulled into the intrigue.
The original film was praised for its Hitchcock-like effects and bold plot twists, although criticized because those twists could be pretty hard to follow.
The complicated plot – a five-way relationship entanglement that jumps back and forth in time – survives in "Wicker Park." Early on, for example, he arrives at what he believes is Lisa's new apartment, only to find the wrong woman, a stranger also named Lisa, who happens to own his Lisa's clothes.
"Wicker Park" is already being sniffed at by a British reviewer for the BBC as a "typical" American "dumbing down" of a wonderful foreign film.
Sometimes we are guilty as charged. While the bawdy British sit-com "Coupling" was hugely popular and witty (look for it on cable), the American version of this show (also "Coupling," NBC) was universally slammed for being obvious and base.
Early word is that "Wicker Park" may have been bitten by the obvious bug too.
But in a plotline both praised and lambasted for its twists and turns, maybe occasional road signs are helpful.
They're always a treat on the back roads of the Virgin Islands.
The film also stars Rose Byrne, Diane Kruger, Matthew Lillard and Jessica Paré.
Rated PG-13
Runs 115 minutes
Click here to check schedule.
