Release Date: March 12, 2004
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence/terror, sexual content and language
Written and Directed by: David Koepp
Starring: Johnny Depp, Maria Bello, Timothy Hutton, Charles Dutton, John Turturro, Len Cariou

Plot:
Mort Rainey (Depp), a writer just coming off of a troublesome divorce with his ex-wife, Amy (Bello), finds himself stalked at his remote lake house by a psychotic stranger (Turturro) who claims Mort stole his best story idea and just changed the ending.

Review:
Fresh from being nominated for Best Actor in the Academy Awards, Johnny Depp stars in a Stephen King Thriller. The plot strikes as odd, but indeed original and interesting for that matter. Depp plays Mort Rainey, a writer who is accused of stealing a man's story. That man is played by John Turturro and goes by the name John Shooter in the film. As this film moves along, John Shooter and Mort Rainey are far from being friends and justice between both of them must be settled.

Once the film began with its opening scene, it seemed like a very promising thriller. Even after the opening credits rolled, there is seriously good cinematography that sets the mood nicely. The film follows Mort Rainey who writes books and send them out to get published. Most of the film takes place in Mort's home and he is certainly not an active man, but he needs to figure exactly what is happening. However, later on he notices how serious the problem is and attempts to find out the controversy on who wrote the story.

Secret Window has an eerie sensation as it is strolling along and the scares are partially acceptable with the good direction from David Koepp. There are certain elements that are placed for the sake of giving clues to this thriller. Essentially, this film is all about delivering a good ending hence one of the taglines being "The most important part of a story is the ending". When it comes down to it, the clues were not needed because the film delivers a predictable ending. It is not surprising by all means.

I must take a moment and name the product placements in this film because I cannot seem to get them out of my brain. It had Doritos, Mountain Dew and a few more. While does has nothing referencing the problems with Secret Window it is simply a matter that stands out. I just had to do it, now on to Director David Koepp.

Director David Koepp serves us well though with nice look and feel to the film, but the script was simply disappointing. One of the script's weakest points was the comedy that it had Johnny Depp portraying. To be completely honest, while the comedy that was injected into the film was pretty funny, it definitely could have done without it. It almost seems like it places the comedy at the wrong times in the film and ends up hurting the mood that the film had running.

Secret Window follows a formula that has been done before and could have succeeded, but when the elements are placed together there is really nothing to rave about. There may even be pieces in Secret Window that I have yet to place together, but even when it's figured out there is no interest or care to be had with it. The film didn't have enough spice during the first or second half to keep you guessing what the ending may be.

Yes, the ending is the most important and best part of a story, but in order to lead the audience into the ending, you need to keep them interested and entertained. Sometimes a great Director can overpower a bad script, but the script was lackluster and dull that even with a good direction, it wasn't enough to turn the entire film around once it dug itself deep.

Secret Window played it safe the entire way through to simply deliver an ending that is not surprising or thrilling at all. Too much thought when into the ending and not enough time went into the actual development of the entirety of the film.

There is actually a couple of times in Secret Window that is very clever. It seems the film gets too confident as it progressed though and did not give the audience that punch it needed. Once Secret Window comes to a conclusion, the audience will be talking as they walk out of the theatre, but they might not be talking positively.

There is no doubt that Secret Window's Direction is strong and the performances as well, but the screenplay was written poorly and the entertainment was lacking that it simply concludes as a disappointment. Johnny Depp is a great actor and showed that he is in Secret Window, its just unfortunate he didn't star in a good film. What Secret Window fails to realize is how can you have an ending when the base of the film lacked, having the audience close the book before the final chapter in shame.