Roxio CinemaNow - Secret Window

Riding a wave of publicity and good will following his Oscar-nominated performance in Pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny Depp is receiving strong notices for his role in the thriller Secret Window. Johnny Depp has emerged as the world's coolest actor, comments John Anderson in Newsday. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times writes that he brings a musing eccentricity to an otherwise straightforward role. ... His hair seems to have been combed with an eggbeater, but of course with Johnny Depp, you never know if that's the character or the actor. Megan Lehmann in the New York Post calls his performance witty and inventive and notes that the movie leans heavily on Depp's eccentric charm, as the actor is alone on-screen for much of the film. The film itself gets mixed notices. Elvis Mitchell in the New York Times comments that Depp's performance is the highlight of the underwhelming Secret Window ... a suspense thriller whose only suspense comes from an audience wondering if the picture will hit its promised 97-minute running time. Similarly, Desson Thomson comments in the Washington Post: Depp's cool presence and quirky mannerisms are the only thing to keep your eyelids from shutting down like Venetian blinds. Wesley Morris in the Boston Globe dismisses it as a jokey, junky potboiler. Peter Howell, in the Toronto Star concludes: The movie has lots of Depp but very little depth.