“Whacko Park” is more apropos — a nod to the misguided creative team who cooked-up this phantasmagorical remake of the 1996 French film, “L’Appartement.” Though visually engaging — Montreal, where the film was shot, makes for a really good-looking Chicago — director Paul McGuigan’s (“Gangster No. 1,” “The Acid House”) film, from a scattershot script credited to Brandon Boyce and Gilles Mimouni, is an unintelligible collection of curious coincidences, bad music, far-fetched narrative twists and some deadwood performances. Ostensibly a romantic thriller about a couple torn apart by jealousy and deception, “Wicker Park” sloggers along until it ultimately, and accidentally to be sure, becomes a comedy. At a recent screening, the giggles started about halfway through, right around the time everyone in the audience realized the whole mess Josh Hartnett’s charisma-challenged character was in could have been avoided had the guy only heard of a wondrous new device called a cell phone. Instead, he and the other players in the film, which includes Matthew Lillard providing strong comic relief as the dopey best bud, pass notes, slide keys under doors, and hastily arrange meetings in snow-covered parks. Of course the notes get misdirected, keys lost and meetings are missed. And Hartnett’s Matthew just gets sadder and sadder.
The source of his heartache is Lisa (Diane Kruger from “Troy”) an ethereal dancer who he falls for something fierce after spotting her on a sidewalk. Lisa catches Matthew stalking her through the streets of Chicago, so she does what any woman would — invites the stranger up to her place for a game of mattress hockey. Hartnett is awfully cute, after all. From then on, the two lovers are inseparable … that is, until a few months later when Matthew proposes that they cohabitate, and Lisa disappears. His lover suddenly, inexplicably gone, Matthew does what any guy would — moves to New York and gets engaged to somebody else. Two years later, they sort of meet again and from there, things get a bit implausible, especially when another “other woman” arrives on the scene in the form of Rose Byrne (also from “Troy”). Thing is, as ridiculous and confusing as “Wicker Park” is, it’s undeniably fun to watch. There are so many gratuitous red herrings and throwaway flashbacks forced into the mix that it’s hard to ever really know what the hell is going on, but the confusion is oddly intoxicating. (Rated PG-13 for sexuality and language. Running time 115 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 3, 2004. Read the original PDF.