Release Date: April 13, 2007 Studio: Dreamworks MPAA Rating: PG-13 Genre: Thriller Director: D.J. Caruso Writers: Christopher B. Landon, Carl Ellsworth Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Morse, Aaron Yoo, Jose Pablo Cantillo Synopsis: After his father's death, Kale Brecht becomes sullen, withdrawn, and troubled -- so much so that he finds himself under a court-ordered sentence of house arrest after a run in with the law. His mother, Julie, works night and day to support herself and her son, only to be met with indifference and lethargy. The walls of his house begin to close in on Kale. He becomes a voyeur as his interests turn outside the windows of his suburban home towards those of his neighbors, one of which Kale begins to suspect is a serial killer. But, are his suspicions merely the product of cabin fever and his overactive imagination? The Review: You're Critic for the Evening: Michael Dayspring.
It's not a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Is it just me or is Shia Labeouf becoming ubiquitous? Perhaps a pact with the dark lord? Is George Lucas secretly adding him in the next DVD version of Star Wars? Whatever the case may be, I have to admit to taking a shine to the kid. He's got enough acting chops to make you suspend the disbelief that a geeky vindictive guy can get a smoking hot chick up to his room, even when she finds out he's been watching her do yoga. He's done some serious time in the TV trenches and paid his dues as the goofy sidekick, now it's his turn to take control, get the girl, and have the comic relief sidekick. Take that Megatron!
Playing Kale, the wholesome boy turned anti-hero in this quasi updated version of Rear Window, most of the films success rides on those aforementioned acting chops of Shia, and he does pull it off nicely. For lengthy portions of the movie you find yourself engrossed in the everyday mundane actives of a kid on lockdown, you start to forget that something sinister is lurking next door. While it is not a bad thing, it does make you wonder about the potential for this film to have just dropped the entire thriller plotline and focus on making this a light drama piece about a boy trapped from the outside world dealing with regrets. However there is evil afoot and its up to Kale to thwart it in between his mid-morning nap and Xbox.
The evil comes to us as one Mr. Turner (David Morse); an obsessive lawn mowing, car loving, girl hacking enthusiast. Morse plays one of the most creepy villains you likely see this summer, he's a smooth operator with time to kill...literally he's got time to kill. The guy mows his lawn twice a day and not one sign of gainful employment. My theory is that he's a work at home telemarketer, which gives him plenty of time and does validate many theories about the soulless evil of telemarketing. Rarely raising his voice beyond a whisper, he conjures images of Elmer Fudd motioning for you to come closer while he's got an axe behind his back. "Shhhhhh be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting teenagers". While the film doesn't give you any motive behind his killings you can easily just see the guy is just damaged goods and leave it at that.
Where the movie fails is in its side characters; Ashley (Sarah Roemer) is the new hottie next door with parental issues. You see enough of it to get the point, but where exactly is it pointing to? Did they move because they found out Ashley was in Girls Gone Wild: Bright Tights, Big Titties? Perhaps a subplot cut for time? Does it matter? Not really no.
Carrie-Anne Moss turns in her skin tight Matrix gear to play mom this time out. I dig Carrie-Anne and she's good in the film, but she just isn't in enough of it to really give her much to chew on or for us to invest in. Not much else to say really.
Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) however is your man for comic relief. He's pretty damn funny and just the kind of guy you'd imagine Shia and Kale being friends with. You know what they say, "A friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend will assist you with some B&E action on a suspected homicide scene."
While I won't spoil the ending of the film I will say this: Once all is said and done they really just bum rush you to the end credits and everyone is just hunky dory in the blink of an eye as if a serious mass murderer wasn't living on the block. Hell even in "The Burbs" they took notice of it. Just knocks you off of that suspension of disbelief cloud you were riding on.
Overall: A pretty entertaining film with enough thrills to keep you in your seat, not too gory and not totally geared towards the "O.C" crowd. Get you Shia on. Rating:
