Secret Window (please box your spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

I want to see the new Johnny Depp movie Secret Window. It didn’t do well according to rottentomatoes.com, but Ebert gave it three stars. I have a soft spot for Depp. And it’s based on a Stephen King novella. But what novella? What collection is it from? I thought I was familiar with all of King’s stuff, but this doesn’t ring a bell. I’m sure someone can help me out here. Also, have you seen the movie? Would you recommend it? Since I haven’t seen it yet (nor have lots of other people, since it just opened Friday), please box any spoilers.

Thanks!

2

The novella is the second piece in “Four Past Midnight.”

I saw it Friday afternoon and enjoyed it, but I was familiar with the book and knew what was coming. Certain elements that I thought would be essential to telling the story well were glossed over in the movie, so the Big Twist might come right out of nowhere and seem kind of random to someone who hadn’t read the book. But I liked it, and my friend who hadn’t read the story seemed to follow just fine.

I’ve got a soft spot (a BIG one) for Johnny, too. If you’re All About the Depp, this is your movie.

3

I saw it yesterday, unfortunately there was a teenie bopper birthday party at the cinema. That was distracting. If you are a big Johnny Depp fan go, however the story was a so so yarn, I found predictable. C+

4

I just saw it today.

I hadn’t read the story, and held out hope until the end that there had been some sort of misdirection going on and that we’d be thrown an interesting twist.

Nope. Twenty minutes in, everything was perfectly obvious, including the ending.

With the plagiarism theme, I couldn’t tell if the numerous distinctive details from other sources (such as the cashier offering the protagonist a signature brand of cigarettes, a la The Tenant,) were intended as irony or what, and all the autocannibalism sure didn’t help with that. (Especially the part lifted directly from The Shining.)

Bleah.

5

I really liked the very end, not The Big Twist, but the very end.

The rest of the movie is alright, Depp and the character of John Shooter are a riot. But as others have said, the rest is ho hum.

6

I just have one question about Depp’s character that the TV ads don’t make clear:
Does he want to know what he’s dealing with here?