Wicker Park (film)

Last updated
Wicker Park
Wicker Park movie.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Paul McGuigan
Screenplay byBrandon Boyce
Based on L'Appartement
by Gilles Mimouni
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Peter Sova
Edited byAndrew Hulme
Music by Cliff Martinez
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • September 3, 2004 (2004-09-03)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million [2]
Box office$21.6 million [2]

Wicker Park is a 2004 American romantic thriller drama film directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Josh Hartnett, Rose Byrne, Diane Kruger and Matthew Lillard. It is a remake of the 1996 French film L'Appartement , which in turn is loosely based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream . [3] [4] [5] It was nominated for the Grand Prix at the Montreal World Film Festival, the city in which the film was partially filmed. [3]

Contents

The title refers to the Wicker Park neighborhood on Chicago's near northwest side.

Plot

Matt Simon, a young advertising executive, returns to Chicago with his fiancée Rebecca, after spending the last two years in New York. He bumps into his old friend Luke on the way into a meeting at a restaurant, in preparation for a business trip to China. Once inside, Matt thinks he overhears Lisa, the beautiful dancer he was in love with two years before, who had vanished overnight. Unable to confront the woman he believes may be Lisa, he blows off the trip and instead embarks on an obsessive search for her, as the story of Matt and Lisa's romance unfolds in flashbacks.

A key card which the woman leaves at the restaurant leads Matt to a hotel, where he finds Lisa's silver compact and an article marked in a newspaper. He leaves a note for Lisa at the restaurant bar, borrows Luke's car, and trails the man from the newspaper article to an apartment. There Matt discovers a note to Lisa under the door, with her key enclosed. The apartment is deserted, but he leaves Lisa a note himself, to meet him in Wicker Park, and keeps the key. An ecstatic Matt returns the car to Luke, who is furious because he has missed a date with his new girlfriend Alex. When Alex calls, Matt takes the blame and Luke is mollified.

The next day, after waiting in vain at Wicker Park, Matt goes back to the apartment and is caught by a woman who is also named Lisa. She says the apartment is hers, but she has a coat and red-soled shoes with a broken heel identical to Lisa's—shoes that came from Luke's shop, where Lisa first met Matt. She says that she was at the hotel because the man in the newspaper was stalking her, and asks Matt to stay the night. They end up sleeping together. Flashbacks reveal that this "Lisa" is actually Alex, Lisa's old neighbor and friend. Alex had fallen in love with Matt from afar, but he met and fell for Lisa before Alex found the courage to speak to him. The man from the newspaper was stalking Lisa, and Alex agreed to swap apartments with her for a few days before Lisa left for a new job in London.

Luke persuades Matt to come with him that night to see Alex perform in Twelfth Night . She is unrecognizable in stage makeup, but panics after she sees Matt in the audience with Luke. Matt returns to the apartment, feels the real Lisa's presence in spite of its emptiness, and spends the night. Alex sleeps with Luke that night. In the morning, when Matt calls Luke, she answers the phone then drops it in a panic. She overhears Luke say Matt is at the apartment, and runs out to call him and meet him there. After receiving Matt's note at the restaurant, the real Lisa calls and asks Luke to tell Matt to meet her at three o'clock, saying he will know where. When Alex arrives at the apartment, Matt gives her another pair of red-soled shoes, Lisa's size, but they are too big. She realizes he suspects something, but Matt says he can exchange them and leaves. Alex then calls Luke and asks him to meet her at the restaurant.

Now suspicious, Matt follows "Lisa" (Alex), bumps into Luke, and follows him into the restaurant to finally meet Alex, the girl Luke is in love with. Matt confronts Alex, her deception revealed. A flashback reveals that two years ago, the same day that Matt asked Lisa to move in with him, Lisa was offered a last minute job touring with a show in Europe and had to jump on a plane. Lisa had given Alex a note to deliver to Matt, telling him she loved him and wanted to live with him. Instead, Alex had kept the note, deleted all the messages Lisa had left for Matt on his answering machine, and told Lisa that she had caught Matt in bed with another woman. Matt never learned why Lisa left, seemingly without a word. In the present, a confused Luke tells Matt that Lisa called and wants him to meet her at three o'clock before she returns to London. Matt is unsure where to meet, but Alex gives him Lisa's old note and he realizes that Lisa is at Wicker Park. Arriving too late, Matt then races to the airport, and is met by Rebecca, who has come to pick him up from the business trip to China he never went on. He confesses that he still loves someone else and cannot marry her. Lisa is nearby on the phone, listening to Alex admit what she has done and apologize. Matt sees Lisa through the crowd and comes up behind her. She senses he is there, turns to kiss him, and they are reunited.

Cast

Production

Calling L'Appartement "among the most absorbing and ingeniously constructed thrillers in years," Variety noted that the film "was tapped for a Hollywood redo almost immediately," but then went into development hell with multiple directors (Joel Schumacher, Steven Spielberg, Joan Chen and Danny Cannon) and stars (Brendan Fraser, Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Paul Walker) attached at different times. [3]

Reception

Critical response

Wicker Park has been given 27% approval based on reviews from 137 critics from Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 4.4 out of 10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Implausible coincidences and an overly convoluted structure make the movie hard to follow or believe." [6] At Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 40 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. [8]

Main criticisms are directed towards the film's complex plot and unconvincingly implausible coincidences. The Associated Press says, "the characters do incredibly stupid things simply for the sake of plot contrivance." [9] The Arizona Republic calls it "a film with more unbelievable coincidences than a Henry Fielding novel, more plot holes than a Swiss cheese and populated with the stock characters of that Hollywood world, that cinematic parallel universe." [10] McGuigan's direction is also criticised, with the Denver Rocky Mountain News saying he "seems to have invested more in the youth and glamour of his cast than in a plausible and exacting script", whereas The New York Times says "Directorial touches can't do much to salvage a project as poorly conceived as this one." [11]

Though calling the film inferior to L'Appartement, Scott Foundas wrote in Variety that both Wicker Park's directing and screenplay were faithful to the French original, praising the way the film's second half "jumps back and forth in time and shifts between various characters' points-of-view, until finally the disparate pieces of the pic's fragmented puzzle come together." [3] He added, "And while cynical viewers will no doubt suggest that [the] pic's entire mystery could be remedied with a single e-mail or cell phone call, the same might be said for Vertigo , and there's something refreshing and timeless about the way Wicker Park allows its characters to rely on their own wits rather than those increasingly common technological aids." [3]

The non-linear narrative received a mixed response. In a mixed review, The Boston Globe says, "The preview audience I saw it with hooted in disbelief at the outrageous bits, then happily dug in to see what would happen next." [12] Conversely, The Washington Post says, "This is a smart movie, full of astonishing reverses and switchbacks, and it adroitly walks the thin line between too clever by half and not clever enough by three-quarters." [13] In a favorable review, Roger Ebert says Wicker Park "works because the actors invest their scenes with what is, under the circumstances, astonishing emotional realism." [14]

Wicker Park was nominated for the Grand Prix des Amériques at the Montreal World Film Festival, the city in which it was partially filmed. [3]

Box-office gross

Filmed on a budget of $30 million, Wicker Park grossed only $21.6 million worldwide. [2]

Home media

On December 28, 2004, the movie was released on DVD and VHS from MGM Home Entertainment.

Related Research Articles

<i>Whats the Worst That Could Happen?</i> 2001 American comedy film by Sam Weisman

What's the Worst That Could Happen? is a 2001 comedy film directed by Sam Weisman and starring Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito. Loosely based on a book by Donald E. Westlake, the film follows the misadventures of a skilled thief and a wealthy businessman facing financial trouble. The film did not meet expectations and performed poorly commercially.

<i>The Apartment</i> (1996 film) 1996 French film

The Apartment is a 1996 French drama film directed by Gilles Mimouni, and starring Romane Bohringer, Vincent Cassel, Jean-Philippe Écoffey and Monica Bellucci.

<i>Last Days</i> (2005 film) 2005 American film

Last Days is a 2005 American drama film directed, produced and written by Gus Van Sant. It is a fictionalized account of the last days of a musician, loosely based on Kurt Cobain. It was released to theaters in the United States on July 22, 2005 and was produced by HBO. The film stars Michael Pitt as the character Blake, based on Cobain. Lukas Haas, Asia Argento, Scott Patrick Green and Thadeus A. Thomas also star in the film. This is the first film from Picturehouse, a joint venture between Time Warner's New Line Cinema and HBO Films subsidiaries to release art house, independent, foreign, and documentary films. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

<i>Stuck on You</i> (film) 2003 American film

Stuck on You is a 2003 American comedy film written and directed by the Farrelly brothers, and starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twin brothers, whose conflicting aspirations provide both conflict and humorous situations, in particular when one of them wishes to move to Hollywood to pursue a career as an actor.

<i>Out of Time</i> (2003 film) 2003 film by Carl Franklin

Out of Time is a 2003 American mystery thriller film directed by Carl Franklin and starring Denzel Washington. The two had previously worked together for the 1995 film Devil in a Blue Dress.

<i>August Rush</i> 2007 American film

August Rush is a 2007 American musical drama film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and produced by Richard Barton Lewis. The screenplay is by Nick Castle and James V. Hart, with a story by Paul Castro and Castle. It involves a 10-year-old musical prodigy living in an orphanage who runs away to New York City. He begins to unravel the mystery of who he is, all while his mother is searching for him and his father is searching for her. The many different sounds and rhythms he hears throughout his journey culminate in a major instrumental composition, which concludes the film.

<i>Just like Heaven</i> (film) 2005 American rom-com fantasy film

Just Like Heaven is a 2005 American romantic comedy fantasy-adventure film directed by Mark Waters, starring Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, and Jon Heder. It is based on the 1999 French novel If Only It Were True by Marc Levy.

<i>In the Mix</i> (film) 2005 film by Ron Underwood

In the Mix is a 2005 American romantic crime comedy-drama film directed by Ron Underwood and starring Usher, Chazz Palminteri, and Emmanuelle Chriqui. It was released in the United States on November 23, 2005, by Lions Gate Films.

<i>Autumn in New York</i> (film) 2000 film by Joan Chen

Autumn in New York is a 2000 American romantic drama film directed by Joan Chen, written by Allison Burnett, and starring Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, Anthony LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, Vera Farmiga, and Sherry Stringfield. The film follows a successful middle-aged restaurateur and womanizer who falls in love with a terminally ill young woman. US distributor MGM took over the film from Chen and significantly re-edited the film, which also involved deleting a Ryder nude scene. The film received generally negative reviews and grossed $90 million against a $65 million budget.

<i>Bon Voyage</i> (2003 film) 2003 film

Bon Voyage is a 2003 French film directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau starring Isabelle Adjani and Gérard Depardieu. It is very loosely inspired by Professor Lew Kowarski's smuggling of the world's only supplies of heavy water out of France following its occupation by the Nazis.

<i>Barefoot in the Park</i> (film) 1967 film by Gene Saks

Barefoot in the Park is a 1967 American romantic comedy film directed by Gene Saks from a screenplay by Neil Simon, adapted from his 1963 play of the same name, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda as a young newlywed couple. Paul, a conservative lawyer, marries the vivacious Corie, but their highly passionate relationship descends into comical discord in a five-flight New York City walk-up apartment. The supporting cast features Charles Boyer, Mildred Natwick, Herbert Edelman, and Mabel Albertson.

<i>Deception</i> (2008 film) 2008 American film

Deception is a 2008 American erotic thriller film directed by Marcel Langenegger and written by Mark Bomback. It stars Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, and Michelle Williams. The film was released on April 25, 2008 in the United States.

<i>Descent</i> (2007 film) 2007 American film

Descent is a 2007 American thriller film directed by Talia Lugacy and produced by and starring Rosario Dawson.

<i>The Secret of the Grain</i> 2007 French film

The Secret of the Grain, titled Couscous in the UK, is a 2007 Franco-Tunisian drama film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. The film stars Habib Boufares as an aging immigrant from the Maghreb whose ambition to establish a successful restaurant as an inheritance for his large and disparate family meets sceptical opposition from the French bureaucracy.

<i>Tiny Furniture</i> 2010 American film

Tiny Furniture is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written, directed by, and starring Lena Dunham. The film premiered at South by Southwest, where it won the award for Best Narrative Feature, screened at such festivals as Maryland Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the United States on November 12, 2010. Dunham plays Aura, an aimless, jilted film school graduate who returns home on what she hopes is a temporary basis. Dunham's mother, artist Laurie Simmons, plays Aura's mother, while her real sibling, Cyrus Grace Dunham, plays Aura's on-screen sister. The actors Jemima Kirke and Alex Karpovsky would also appear in Dunham's television series Girls.

<i>Lola Versus</i> 2012 American film

Lola Versus is a 2012 American romantic comedy film directed by Daryl Wein, who co-wrote the screenplay with his partner Zoe Lister-Jones. The film stars Greta Gerwig, Joel Kinnaman, Lister-Jones, Bill Pullman and Debra Winger.

<i>Two Night Stand</i> 2014 film by Max Nichols

Two Night Stand is a 2014 American romantic comedy film directed by Max Nichols, written by Mark Hammer, and starring Miles Teller, Lio Tipton, Jessica Szohr, Leven Rambin, and Scott Mescudi.

<i>Stage Fright</i> (2014 film) 2014 Canadian film

Stage Fright is a 2014 Canadian musical comedy slasher film directed by Jerome Sable and is his feature-film directorial debut. The film had its world release on March 10, 2014 at South by Southwest, a VOD release on April 3, 2014, and a theatrical release on May 9. It stars Allie MacDonald as a hopeful young singer terrorized by a killer at a musical theater camp.

<i>Ray Meets Helen</i> 2017 American film

Ray Meets Helen is a 2017 romantic drama film directed by Alan Rudolph. It is notable as Sondra Locke's last acting appearance before her death in 2018.

<i>Nightbooks</i> American fantasy horror film

Nightbooks is a 2021 American dark fantasy film directed by David Yarovesky and written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. It is based on the 2018 horror-fantasy children's book of the same name by J. A. White. The film stars Winslow Fegley, Lidya Jewett, and Krysten Ritter.

References

  1. ↑ "Wicker Park (35mm)". Australian Classification Board . Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Wicker Park (2004) - Financial Information". The Numbers . Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Foundas, Scott (September 4, 2004). "Review: Wicker Park". Variety . Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  4. ↑ Canavese, Peter. "Wicker Park". Groucho Reviews. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  5. ↑ Hartmann, Erica. "Wicker Park is a Wicked Ride". Silver Chips Online. Montgomery Blair High School. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Wicker Park (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes . Flixster . Retrieved January 22, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Wicker Park Reviews - Metacritic". Metacritic .
  8. ↑ "CinemaScore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  9. ↑ "At the Movies: 'Wicker Park' 090304 - The Augusta Chronicle". old.chronicle.augusta.com.
  10. ↑ Nilsen, Richard (September 2, 2004). "Wicker Park Reviews". The Arizona Republic . Retrieved March 16, 2022– via Rotten Tomatoes.
  11. ↑ Kehr, Dave (September 3, 2004). "Eerie Shots, à la Vertigo, but No Sign of Stewart". The New York Times . Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  12. ↑ "'Wicker Park' attraction is strange, enjoyable - The Boston Globe". www.boston.com.
  13. ↑ "'Wicker Park': Seeing Is Deceiving (washingtonpost.com)". www.washingtonpost.com.
  14. ↑ Ebert, Roger. "Wicker Park Movie Review & Film Summary (2004) - Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.