Mort Rainey is an eccentric writer going through a painful divorce from his cheating wife. Trying to write a new book, he locks himself away in a woodland cabin and due to a bout of writers' block spends his time smoking and taking long naps. One day a Mississippi dairy farmer named John Shooter appears at his door accusing him of stealing one of his stories. Rainy disputes this and says he can he can prove it as magazine printed his short story years before Shooter claimed he wrote his. Shooter demands to see the magazine and gives Rainey three days to resolve the matter. Scared and confused, Rainey knows he can easily prove his innocence by producing a published copy of the story, but every time he tries to find a copy of the magazine a series of sinister events block his path. Based on one of Stephen King's weaker novellas, the story of 'Secret Window' isn't that great, but what saves the film from mediocrity is an absolutely terrific performance from Johnny Depp who manages to turn an average and somewhat predictable story into a highly entertaining thriller, and a great soundtrack from Philip Glass adds to the suspense and mood of the film. Overall, it's a pretty decent film which should appeal to fans of psychological thrillers, and is most definitely worth a look.
I am a huge fan of Johnny Depp and also rate John Turturro highly. However, neither of these fine actors could save this film. The story is weak and the plot thin. It somehow doesn't make any sense and is totally unbelievable. I was very disappointed and would recommend people not to bother wasting an evening on it!
This movie was recommended but proved to be a waste of time. Even Johnny Depp’s acting wasn’t as good as it could have been. Although, given the movie he was in, it was possibly an uphill struggle. He usually chooses to act in more discerning movies. Lost his judgement here. Had I known it was based on a Stephen King novel, I probably wouldn’t have bothered.