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Review: Wicker Park
"A thriller that thrills, but does little to nothing to stand out from the crowd."
By Chelsea Vargas
In Paul McGuigan's latest romantic-thriller, Wicker Park, Matthew (Josh Hartnett) – a photographer who sold out to become a big shot advertising guy – is on a quest to find the girl he always loved. Though it sounds like a wholesome quest, it’s really more of an obsession. In fact, this movie’s all about obsession.
Matthew abandons a serious girlfriend and an important business meeting to pursue a wild goose chase to find Lisa (Diane Kruger), the love of his life who disappeared 2 years ago. His attempts to track her down and return her lost powder case lead him through all sorts of tense, and sometimes confusing, craziness that connects him with a mysterious woman (Rose Byrne), who gives him a little taste of what it’s like to be the object of an obsession.
Luke (Matthew Lillard), Matthew’s friend from his pre-business-career life, helps Matthew along his journey, and provides some comic relief while doing it. His bits of light hearted comedy certainly keep the movie going, though his character is not entirely lacking in depth – Luke’s serious moments are also touching. In fact, Lillard’s character is perhaps the most likable, and the one I found myself identifying with the most.
Wicker Park is definitely a thriller- it had me squirming in my seat. There are many, many moments where I had to really concentrate on not screaming at the characters on the big screen- it’s one of those movies that almost convinces you that you could change the series of events for the better if only the characters would just listen to you for once. Also, there are tons of white-knuckle moments that are almost too tense to watch, and plenty of plot twists to keep you busy.
Despite the plentiful twists and turns, the movie’s a bit formulaic. In what seems like an attempt to make up for that, the creators upped the artsy level to extreme degrees. In many parts of the movie, I could imagine the filmmakers sitting around the editing room, fiddling with the different effects in Photoshop in an effort to differentiate this film from others in its class. Rather than making the film unique or helping us connect to Matthew the aspiring photographer, I found the fancy shmancy fades and graininess distracting.
Likewise with the dramatic music – though music can certainly help set the mood, this dramatic music had me, at times, giggling under my breath - which certainly doesn’t help create a feeling of tension. But hey, maybe that’s just what I needed to keep myself firmly planted in my chair, instead of jumping up at the screen shouting, “Just look behind you!” and biting my nails.
All in all, a thriller that thrills, but does little to nothing to stand out from the crowd. But hey, I’ve learned maybe that’s a good thing.
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