A dull updating of a classic

Soggy love story of interest only to Dunst diehards. Here she sports some young rugged beauty, enviable long golden hair, and among the worst Canadian accents ever heard. The location of this isolated fishing isle is never specified so, judging from the dialects, for a time I thought it was near Ireland until I began picking out the faces of some familiar Canadian actors. However all the musical cues are distinctly Irish, so who knows? Regardless, Kirsten sounds like she spent some misplaced deep-fried Southern time. Part of the movie takes place in the present where we're supposed to sympathize with a sullen teenage brat (Julia Brendler); part of my brain was whispering "Jump!!" after she climbed in despair to the top of a lighthouse. She meets a crusty old unpublished author (Lynn Redgrave) who recounts her latest work, and that's the story that sluggishly plays out during most of the film. Writer/director Sheri Elwood touches upon a curse that plagues this fishing community every 50 years and hints at a dark secret to lift the curse, but nothing ever comes of the foreshadowing. Much of the rest of the script is similarly underwritten with only a couple characters gaining any foothold, but at least the vital ingredient of the budding romance between Dunst and naval captain's son Trent Ford works.