Secret Window: Critic Reviews

The story roots around dutifully in by-now-familiar SK notions of real life being stranger than fiction.

Johnny Depp's performance as a trebly beset writer is the highlight of this underwhelming suspense thriller based on a Stephen King novella.

A potent psychological thriller bolstered by strong performances and an offbeat sense of humor.

Despite Koepp's control of suspense and Depp's fully fleshed, if fragmented, hero, this Window ultimately feels like one most of us have climbed through before.

[Koepp's] up against an insurmountable problem -- lifeless source material.

A second helping would be hard to justify were it not for Depp, whose manic idea of comedy seems right for a Stephen King thriller.

Adapted from a Stephen King novella, the film lurches tiredly through the author's favorite masochistic-narcissistic fantasy, subjecting a woebegone writer to a gauntlet of abuse.

It's a slight story to begin with, and the movie teeters on camp with its jokey filler material.

This uneven psychological thriller has its share of chills, but Depp and Turturro are a hoot.

[Koepp] manages some compelling creepy-crawly moments and captures the wintry mood of Mr. King's small-town upstate New York setting.

Not even Depp can quite save the relentless obviousness and preposterous turns.

Somewhere in the middle of [King's] range storywise, and toward the top in Depp's performance.

A clever, tense thriller that loses steam toward the end.

The plot certainly has possibilities, but far too many of them are botched by writer-director David Koepp, who's a better writer than director.

Bloody, bone-chilling fun.

Hitchcock would have loved it.

There is undeniable pleasure in watching Depp have fun with a role, turning a character in an inferior movie into something worth treasuring. Still, it would be even more rewarding watching him work his magic in a good film.

With Depp in the lead, Secret Window never quite slips into mediocrity, but it's not destined to be remembered among King's finest efforts, either.

Mr. Depp demonstrates once again that he never disappoints as an actor, even in something as fraudulent as Secret Window.

Has no story, no ending and no redeeming value.

Works well as a showcase for Depp's idiosyncrasies.

All the corn pone in Mississippi can't make this go down like anything but year-old grits.

The rising dread is hobbled by a huge impediment: The story doesn't make a lick of sense.

To watch Johnny Depp act in anything is always a treat. But does it have to be the only treat going?