There are only two reasons you should see "Secret Window." The first is Johnny, and the second is Depp. Director David Koepp had better thank his casting director profusely, because without Depp, the entire movie would have been utterly unbearable.
"Secret Window," adapted by Koepp from a Steven King novel of the same name, unfolds the story of Mort Railney (Depp), is a recently divorced author who is chronically afflicted by writer's block and is, out of nowhere, accused of plagiarism. The accuser, John Shooter (John Tuturro), an Amish man from Mississippi, demands retribution. But it is not money that he seeks. He wants a better ending to his story.
From the moment Tuturro's Amish slow-speaking character steps onto the screen, every detail seems to proceed at the same rate of Shooter's southern drawl.
Thankfully, enter Johnny Depp, stage right. Depp truly makes Rainey, the struggling writer and supposed plagiarizer, come to life. Although Depp's portrayal of Rainey is outstanding, it does not compare to his Jack Sparrow performance. Throughout the supposed suspense, he consults his dog Chico for potential plot twists, ruffles his hair, scrunches his face, hides the fact that he is smoking from his cleaning lady and naps incessantly -- all in a uniquely frazzled yet nonchalant aura that Depp pulls of beautifully.
All the while, Rainey's new arch-nemesis, Shooter, lets Rainey know he means business. When bodies start turning up Rainey finally goes to the local authorities. Why he doesn't go before that, but rather chooses to doze off on the couch, is just one of the frustrating plot flaws in the movie.
At this point, Koepp definitely should have added something original to make the Shooter-Rainey game of cat and mouse a little more interesting, or intense, at the least. Frankly, the standard, hackneyed blackmailing techniques that are being played out are boring. To add insult to injury, it's not only boring, but the audience is forced to listen to Shooter's mind-numbingly paradoxical requests, which he demands in his breathtakingly slow drawl.
Yet Koepp's use of foreshadowing, throughout this tiring game of cat-mouse, can't be overstated. When the conclusion finally rolls around, the foreshadowing pays off and the movie accelerates rapidly into an utterly surprising, yet eerily plausible, sinister ending. All the tidbits of foreshadowing info Koepp has painstakingly inserted, unneeded at the time, seamlessly mesh together. Unfortunately, it's too little, too late.
Essentially, a horribly mediocre middle hour coupled with Tuturro's infuriating Amish antagonist ruins the movie. Although not even Johnny Depp can save it, Director David Koepp deserves some credit. His use of foreshadowing was admirable, and the ending was truly remarkable, not to mention sinister. But the horribly mediocre middle hour is, unfortunately, what lingers most.
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