Hey all. Capone in the Windy City here.

Every once and a while I doubt myself.

I leave a movie I dreaded seeing beforehand and be utterly shocked how much I dug it.

If you don't quibble with the premise and don't think too hard about the timelines involved, you'll probably really like The Lake House, the first American feature from Argentina-born veteran director Alejandro Agresti.

Reinstating their undeniable chemistry from Speed, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock pair up again in a decidedly different breed of romance film. How is it different? First and foremost, the couple are almost never in the same scene together.

I should probably take a second and acknowledge that there are probably more than a few of you out there that rolled your eyes and dismissed this film the first time you saw the trailer. Trust me, I was right there with you. There may have been no one looking forward to see The Lake House less than me. Which is why there may have been no one more shocked and how much I fell for it. The idea of two people, living in the same ornate lake house near Chicago two years (her in 2006; him in 2004) apart communicating through a series of letters is utterly preposterous, I agree.

Even the characters acknowledge the ridiculous quality of their story. But there's a gentle, easy-going vibe that permeates this movie and got under my skin, making it a lot easier to go with it. I can't remember ever finding Reeves quite this accessible and likeable, and I think that's what knocked me off my axis initially.

What I found most unique and inspired about the film's approach to love is that since the two lovers are never "in love" in the same time period, they (and we) have the opportunity to take stake in their own lives.

The purity of their feelings makes them take deep, honest looks into the way they live and make significant changes. Reeves has a tumultuous relationship with his architect father (the always fantastic Christopher Plummer), who designed the titular structure more as an extension of his greatness than as a place where a warm and loving family could exist.

Their scenes are tense and awkward, but they give Reeves a chance to finally show he can an emotional being on screen and not just an action star. Bullock, on the other hand, continues an interesting succession of non-cutesy roles (as she did in last year¹s Crash), and gives us a character steeped in depression and almost never flashes that familiar winning smile. She has buried herself at her hospital job, pretending not to care that the only man she can find to love her will forever be two years in her past.

By setting the two characters' timelines only two years apart, it brings up the question: why hasn't Reeves tracked down Bullock in his timeline or waited two years to catch up to the version of her that would actually know who he was?

Well who said he doesn't do these things?

I loved the way Reeves plants things two years earlier for Bullock to find in her world. What's more fascinating is the way he manipulates situations to put himself in her world two years before she moved to the lake house, when she was in an unfulfilling relationship with a nice enough guy (Dylan Walsh). But what man stands a chance against Keanu Reeves writing your lady love letters? She has no idea who he is when they meet, but that doesn't stop him from awkwardly beginning the seduction process, if only to plant the memory of what he looks like in her 2006 brain.

The Lake House has a tone, a look, and a smooth-as-brandy approach that is near impossible to resist. And in a strange way, it almost makes you consider: If only it were THAT easy to meet the perfect person.

Sure, the time-space continuum is completely mucked with here. Sure, at various times the couple changes something in the past that would send ripples of Bradburian changes throughout the future-world. Who cares? Don't you know the power of love trumps all science-fiction considerations?

I wouldn't classify the film as a tear-jerker or a chick flick (I may be voted down on this second choice), but part of what I enjoyed so much about the movie is its inability to be pigeonholed. Its hardly high art, but it's not far from it either. Plus, it has some of most beautiful shots of Chicago captured on film. It makes me want to live there...oh wait!

The Lake House is the year's first worthy love story.

Capone