Love story out of time

The Lake House
Cert 12A **

I'm not at all sure that I know what this strange, timetravelling love story is about, but I'm certain that it ought to have been better. That it isn't is probably due to Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, who play the lovers. Neither of them manages to express much in their slightly inappropriate parts.

Director Alejandro Agresti has remade the South Korean El Mare, in which the time-travelling central theme was considerably more convincing. This time, we have Bullock playing a doctor, Sarah, who lives for a while in a uniquely beautiful lake house.

When she lands a job in a Chicago hospital, she leaves a note in the mailbox for the next tenant, asking him to forward her letters. His name is Alex (Reeves), a talented architect working at a nearby construction site. His famous father, with whom he has a tortured relationship ( Christopher Plummer), designed The Lake House.

A strange letter-writing affair with the doctor ensues, which is where the main conceit kicks in. Among the clues that there's some time-shifting involved are paw prints across fresh paint near the entrance of the house that mysteriously disappear and what looks like a mortal accident to the young architect.

The film is slow, but nicely shot and clever at gradually revealing the pair's hopes, dreams and doubts. But it never comes together as it should and is neither romantic nor dramatic enough to sustain its slightly unearthly mystery. It is so determined to be original and sensitive that it loses its way in the end. Less annoyingly cloying music from Rachel Portman might have improved things.