Lakeview Terrace Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
An LAPD officer will stop at nothing to force out the interracial couple who just moved in next door.
| Samuel L. Jackson | Abel Turner |
| Patrick Wilson | Chris Mattson |
| Kerry Washington | Lisa Mattson |
| Regine Nehy | Celia Turner |
| Jaishon Fisher | Marcus Turner |
| Jay Hernandez | Javier Villareal |
| Keith Loneker | Clarence Darlington |
| Robert Dahey | Jung Lee Pak |
| Mel Rodriguez | Julio Pacheco |
| Ho-Jung | Sang Hee Pak |
| Bitsie Tulloch | Nadine |
| Dale Godboldo | Dale |
| Lynn Chen | Eden |
| Cassius Willis | Officer Friendly |
| Paul Terrell Clayton | Second Officer |
| Neil LaBute |
6.40 out of 10 (2694 votes)
Visitor Reviews
A very entertaining and heart pounding movie
posted on 22 Aug 2009Lakeview Terrace was a very interesting and original movie. It was exhilarating and fun to watch from beginning to end. The ending especially was edgy and intense. Samue L. Jackson turned in his best performance yet. He nailed the part so well that the movie could have been good just from his performance. He was fun, funny, mean, and vicious. I think this movie should be a fan favorite mostly for young adults and older adults. It was very entertaining. It does kind of start out boring and weird, but then really kicks it into high gear. It kept you on the edge of your seat from the middle all the way up until the end. The movie kept you guessing up until the very last second. The movie is very true in some ways and shows a lot about real life. The movie had great humor to go along with everything. The story was great and interesting. Overall just a very good movie to go see. Entertaining and a very exhilarating ride.
Remind me never to let Samuel L. Jackson borrow a cup of sugar from my place
posted on 18 Aug 2009Lakeview Terrace, what could have been a great thriller turned into a complete and total mess. I'm honestly surprised that this movie has the rating that it does, I'm trying not to insult anyone, just honestly, how could you take this seriously? It was so horribly written and I was actually looking forward to this film. My major problem was that the character development, there wasn't any, you go on this roller coaster ride where you think you might understand why Samuel L. Jackson's character is the way he is, but instead they go back into making you just brutally hate this guy. This is how beyond insane this movie is... Samuel L. Jackson goes from this stern, uptight guy to a bully, to a chainsaw maniac killer, to just plain psychotic, and honestly this guy is never given a solid reason why he turns this way, you're just left with five million questions and on of the worst endings I've ever seen.Chris and Lisa, an inter-racial couple, the nicest couple you will ever meet, the couple you would love to be friends with finally got a home of their own in what seems like a very nice neighborhood... well, that is until they meet Able, their black widowed neighbor who also happens to be a police officer... who also happens to not approve of their relationship. From the get go Able is pretty much a rabid dog who threatens Chris off the bat saying to leave the neighborhood and that he doesn't like them. He just cannot be reasoned with, when Chris and Lisa have an unexpected surprise they were not ready for that gives their marriage a shake, Able isn't helping when he goes as far as to threatened their lives.Honestly this is one of the worst films I have seen this fall season, it was beyond unrealistic and you have no compassion for some of the characters. Not to mention there is a constant rubbing in your face of the race issues, it's not just Samuel L. Jackson that doesn't approve of this relationship, all of the family and friends make some kind of disrespectful comment on it, I personally know 3 inter-racial couples and they don't receive that much hate or disapproval, it was hurtful on that level. I recommend you stay away from this movie, it's slow paced and the thrills are a let down. The story doesn't make much sense and I just found it to be pointless.2/10
Better than it had to be
posted on 18 Aug 2009This wasn't just a crazy neighbor movie, you could tell some thought went into it, that the "bad guy" wasn't just a bad guy and the "good guys" weren't perfect. Everyone in the movie was human, they all carried baggage not necessarily visible to anybody else, which is true of all us. I was reminded of Sam Jackson's recent excellent movie "Black Snake Moan" where he played another multi-faceted guy who was inherently decent but flawed.Towards the end, after Sam (Abel) confesses what his driving force is to his neighbor (a lowering of personal boundaries that I found surprising), I would have thought some conflict would have been resolved, that some of his anger would have dissipated and the movie could have taken a more positive direction but I guess none of us changes that fast. The encroaching fire served as metaphor for the inevitable messy resolution to come.Sam is always interesting to watch, he elevates any movie he's in (even "Changing Lanes", a movie where he's also butting heads with another man and it gets out of hand. I wasn't crazy about that movie though. I thought the escalation of events was totally unrealistic).I didn't think "Lakeview Terrace" could have ended any other way than it did, I was just hoping that it would.
Stunningly Disappointing
posted on 31 Jul 2009My wife and I were looking forward to seeing this movie as we are both big Samuel L. Jackson fans.As soon as the movies starts you would be forgiven for thinking that you'd be in for a real treat however, if this notion was in your mind to begin with, it will quickly dissolve and evaporate into thin air.Obviously Mr. Jackson and Co would have been paid a truck load of cash to star in this poor excuse for a movie, so I cant really blame them for that.The movie itself unfortunately falls far far short in terms of entertainment and certainly fails to deliver any real suspense or genuine thrills that we've come to expect from movies starring Mr. Jackson.Thrust together with what has to be one of the most boring story lines in the history of film making, the acting is mediocre at best.Overall a this is highly predictable and pretty lame movie with a slight hint of racism that may or may not offend some folks.Forgettable :(
Group Loyalties.
posted on 29 Jul 2009Lots of potential energy in this innovative story of an embittered African-American cop on the LAPD who resents his new neighbors, white Patrick Wilson and black Kerry Washington, and escalates the conflict until it results in death.How easy it would have been to produce yet another reshuffled story of racial antagonism if the writers had only made the cop a white racist and the next-door couple a black guy with a white wife.To their credit, they not only avoided the cliché of white racism but they gave flesh and dimension to each major character and added realistic touches to their interactions. Samuel L. Jackson is not a simple-minded racist by any means. He doesn't hate whites or think they are conspiring against blacks. He gets along fine with the whites and Hispanics on the LAPD. It's just that he believes in the sanctity of social borders and, beyond that, has an overly rigid conception of right and wrong. The police are supposed to maintain law and order -- but sometimes an officer can over-do the "order" business and that's Jackson's principal problem.But race is of course a thread that constantly runs through his difficulties. How could it not? His adulterous wife died on a hospital gurney, and he attributes her death to neglect because of her race. It's the prism that shapes his view of the world. It's part of the subculture when he lived in South Central. Race stands behind everything. I'm reminded of an African-American colleague and friend. On payday we went to his bank to cash his check. This was in a high-crime area and I felt uncomfortable because, just lounging around, I felt all the security officers were watching me with suspicion. Then we went to my bank across the street where it was HIS turn to just lounge around, and as we left he confided, "I felt all the guards were looking at me because I was black." Man, this story has a lot of potential and some of it is realized. Much of its impact depends on Jackson and he delivers as usual. It's a marvelous blend of affability and disapproval and a thoroughly professional performance. Jackson is one of the finest actors of his generation. The inter-racial couple isn't really up to his standards though.Neither is the script. The plot itself is okay, the colic pain of the increasing tension, tempered by an occasional attempt on the part of both parties to lessen it. But then there is one of those Southern California wildfires that ratchets up the expectations and then peters out in anticlimax.The script has its felicities but the dialog goes up and down. Sometimes the characters overreact to small slights or insinuations. Jackson has bright lights all around his property and they shine in the bedroom windows of the couple next door. This causes considerable friction -- but why? Why doesn't the couple put up drapes? The climactic reveal involves Patrick Wilson finding a criminal's cell phone and noticing Jackson's number on it. Wilson dials the number and Jackson answers, from which Wilson immediately concludes that Jackson has conspired with the miscreant. But anybody could come up with a good excuse for Jackson's number being on that list. It's already been established that the ugly thug, now dead, was Jackson's snitch.There are a couple of other clunkers in the plot and the dialog itself has no sparkle beyond that with which Jackson injects it.It could have been a great film, but instead it's just an interesting one, enlivened by an original idea and by Samuel L. Jackson. The plan was fine. Too bad the execution was so weak.
OK drama, terrible thriller
posted on 29 Jul 2009My entire family got together to see this movie all extremely excited to watch a thriller. As the movie ended we all looked around board saying that we wasted two hours on that. I think it would have made a suitable drama, nothing to write home about, but OK if a few things were changed. As a thriller though it was the worst one I have seen. The movie was very predictable and the characters were transparent. Nothing exciting really happened except in the last 10 minutes of the movie, the rest of it was basically a war between neighbors. The parts that were supposed to be exciting I could already predict they were going to happen. When I watch a thriller I am usually on the edge of my seat terrified. Watching this movie I was lucky enough I didn't fall out of my seat asleep.
The story line
posted on 25 Jul 2009It is about time there was a story line based on something so fresh and about the here and now. Let's face it interracial couples have been around forever and bad police officers have been around forever. At this point and time someone was brave enough to touch on both character types and make a real story out of it. There is a nice twist in the story that does make you sit on the edge of your chair. Thank you to the writer for sticking his neck out there, adult entertainment, nothing dry, weak nor fulled with warm and fuzz-es. You have my vote. Poop happens! Most of us think it what would happen if you had a successful couple (whom could have been the color of green) the issue is "character" and this movie told it. I will stop there and let the audience be the judge. Again Bravo!
A wonderfully layered character piece, and misunderstood tragedy
posted on 17 Jul 2009Lakeview Terrace's plot and set-up is rather simple. A newly married interracial couple (Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington) are new homeowners in the Southern Californian suburbs, living next to a cop (Samuel L. Jackson) who can't stop terrorizing them. Therefore, it's almost ironic that for a set-up that would normally lead to a straight forward good and bad thriller, we get a film deliberately complex and shaded with grey.What makes Lakeview Terrace work is the respect director Neil LaBute gives his three main characters. All three are equally complex and refreshingly flawed human beings who are often guilty of selfishness and mistakes, and all three actors marvel with their internally conflicted roles.Under a lesser skilled hand, Jackson's Abel would've fallen into the trap of becoming a caricature, a one-noted racist terror living next door. But under LaBute, Abel is painted as a layered, disturbed being on a downward spiral, releasing his anger at his own deteriorating life on the people close to him. Abel realizes when he's done wrongs, but his irrational actions get the best of him until one of his impulsive mistakes has drastic consequences and leads to a finale of blown up violence. This shift in the final 20 minutes would normally seem out of place, but in the context of Abel's spiral and deterioration, it completes Abel's tragedy perfectly. What adds to the finale is that all the characters' actions are plausible and exactly how you could expect them to act in that situation. Furthermore, all of Chris, Lisa, and Abel's selfish and wrong decisions culminate and play a part in the finale, every scene in the film up to that point becomes important. Considering this deliberate structure and the fact that most of the film's running time consists of the three characters talking among one another, Lakeview Terrace could've worked as an excellent stage play.Meanwhile, on the surface Chris and Lisa would appear to be without flaws and perfectly dedicated to each other as most leads of the type in films are, but the film, by putting them under the microscope throughout the film, as well as showing the human sides of Abel, reveals this is untrue. In many cases, they commit the same wrongs and selfishness that Abel does, and by the end the only difference between the two is that Abel followed through with the final wrong action, while Chris wanted to but stopped himself. As well, between Chris and Lisa exists many clues of selfishness when dealing with one another. One sign of the skill of a director is little moments, and there are many clues throughout the film that all is not well with the couple. Pay attention to Lisa's off-screen voice during the final scene of the film, it's a masterfully placed and telling moment.The film and script is wise enough to never venture into clichés or conventions, even when dealing with pregnancy revelations or Abel striking his daughter. Similarly, it avoids over-exposition and overly heavy racial messaging. Although LaBute does bring up the idea of racial double standards a number of times and plays with our assumptions concerning race, the crux of the film smartly lies in the internal conflict of the three leads, not being hit over the head with racial subtext is a relief.LaBute's camera isn't flashy, but rather composed and tight, fitting the nature of the film well. But more or less, his strengths lie in his plotting and work with the actors, and staging the constant dialogs with composed skill.Lakeview Terrace is unfortunately a film that will probably slip under the radar in terms of releases this year, and in the future it may be only known as a footnote on Samuel L. Jackson's resume, but it nevertheless deserves credit for what it is, an excellent, tight, and near masterful suburbia drama that works as both an examination of our human shades of grey and as a great tragedy. Neil LaBute, I anxiously await your next project.Review written for Worldofkj.com
LaBute delivers yet another mediocre film
posted on 05 Jul 2009Director Neil LaBute has never been among the top filmmakers in Hollywood. His films usually range in the 'above-average' of area, never rising above to any level of greatness. After the pathetic attempt at a remake of 'The Wicker Man' two years ago, it was unclear whether LaBute would have another attempt at all. He got a chance, however, with the Samuel L. Jackson-led 'Lakeview Terrace.' Unfortunately, just like with the majority of his work, the film has a couple of great elements, but ends up being simply average to above-average.The film tells the story of LAPD officer Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) who, still bitter over the death of his wife, takes out his frustrations and bigotry on the new interracial couple next door, Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington). Over the course of the stay in their new home, they become victims of attacks escalating in seriousness from a cigarette butts and security lights to slashed tires and violent thugs. Unable to go to the police for help, Chris & Lisa must find their own way to protect their new home and themselves.After first viewing the trailer, it was apparent that the film was going to be rather muddled, unsure of the direction it wanted to take. It ranges from dramatic thriller to dark comedy to, occasionally, Lifetime-channel sap. The direction is apt and the script is adequate, but the shining element of the film would be Samuel L. Jackson's fantastically intense performance. Patrick Wilson also delivers a reasonably good performance, though Kerry Washington's abilities seemed to be lacking here. One major problem the film had was the lack of likable characters. In a competition of the overbearing racist Abel and the whiny new guy Chris, it's hard to really pick a side. Abel, obviously, is almost completely unlikable, but Jackson's performance makes him fun to watch. Chris, whom we should be rooting for, is too much of a stubborn ass most of the film to actually throw support towards and ends up being quite annoying throughout. A script overhaul would've been necessary here to take an interesting idea and make it good. It's not complicated, so it should've at least been entertaining. . . but, to be honest, it was really just not fun at all to watch. When all the elements come together into a complete film, it simply remains as another piece of mediocrity for writer/director Neil LaBute's stale résumé.Final Verdict: 6/10. Really only worthy of a view for big fans of Sam Jackson.-AP3-
flawed but intriguing racial thriller
posted on 29 Jun 2009Samuel L. Jackson stars as the neighborhood-watchdog-from-hell in "Lakeview Terrace," a sociological thriller with racial overtones. Jackson plays Abel Turner, an LAPD officer and widower with two kids who doesn't much cotton to the fact that an interracial couple has moved into the house next door. He makes his disapproval felt almost from the start - first, subtly, through thinly disguised racist innuendo, then more blatantly, through acts of vandalism and out-and-out violence. At first, the couple, Chris and Lisa Mattson, try looking beyond all the hostility that is being hurled at them by this clearly unstable individual, but as Abel ratchets up the frequency and ferocity of his attacks, Chris and Lisa are forced to take a more proactive stand against him. As "Crash" attempted to point out a few years back - much less successfully in my opinion - racial tensions run high even in a supposedly liberal ethnic melting-pot like Los Angeles. Add to that the perpetual threat from out-of-control brushfires in the area and it becomes clear that suburbia hasn't borne witness to this much trauma and havoc since that hapless family found itself sharing quarters with a houseful of uninvited spooks in "Poltergeist." And, like that film, "Lakeview Terrace" shows just what happens when the American dream of home ownership suddenly and unexpectedly turns into a nightmare of epic proportions.Directed by Neil LaBute, "Lakeview Terrace" is to be commended for its willingness to even broach such a touchy subject in the first place - let alone make the African-American character the perpetrator of the racism rather than the victim of it. Luckily, Jackson brings a soul-cringing realism to the character that helps to counteract some of the more sensationalistic, over-the-top elements that creep into the David Loughery/Howard Korder screenplay especially towards the end. For, indeed, the movie is at its sharpest and most compelling in the early stages, when Abel is still attempting to hide his evil beneath the veneer of at least some degree of social acceptability. But once that veneer is stripped away, the movie wanders off into the areas of incredibility and melodrama and becomes considerably less intriguing as a result.Going beyond the racist angle, the movie also raises the troubling question of just who one is supposed to turn to for help when the very source of one's grievance just happens to already be a fully-entrenched member of the law-enforcement community.Jackson gets some very fine support from Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, who make us empathize with the couple and the ordeal they are being put through. Moreover, the screenplay makes an effort to add some complexity and depth to each of the various characters who could easily have remained two-dimensional stereotypes in less gifted hands. Only in the final half hour or so does the movie go completely off the rails into overwrought silliness. Till then, "Lakeview Terrace" makes for reasonably compelling viewing.
I am the police! You *have* to do what I say!
posted on 09 Jun 2009It is just a coincidence, I'm sure, that Starz made this available while we are talking about the Gates affair. This film is the perfect example of out-of-control police officers using their badge to enforce their prejudices.Ar first, I was hoping that Abel (Samuel L. Jackson) was just a concerned parent, but when he full on slapped his daughter, he became a child abuser and his serious problems were out in the open.Unfortunate, his children children are not the only ones suffering his wrath. The new neighbors, Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington), are not to his liking either, and he is making their lives a living hell.Chris is taking it out on Lisa and causing a serious rift in their relationship. This is going to get very ugly before it is over. It even goes so far as murder.A thought-provoking film that makes you think , not only about black-white relations, but also about the limits of the police state.
Good as thriller. Fair as social commentary
posted on 07 Jun 2009Samuel L Jackson is very good (if slight autopilot) as a cop who doesn't like his next door neighbors are an interracial couple. Okay thriller stacks the deck at the start by making Jackson's character a control freak with his own sense of the world, a sense he inflicts on everyone around him, to the point his wife is no longer in the picture. Call me kooky but I've rarely been one to like any film where we know how crazy someone is at the start. I didn't like it in Mosquito Coast where Harrison Ford was too nuts to start, not in Falling Down where Michael Douglas's deterioration was well under way before the film started, and I don't like it here where the deck is stacked at the start. It has nothing to do with notions of reverse racism or anything like that, rather I like the tension to build not be foisted upon me, since I dislike knowing early on how bad its going to get. To me the way Jackson is kind of takes away my ability to accept the film as a statement of race. To be certain its a thriller, but I just don't accept it as social commentary since its trying too hard. Fiveish out of ten.For the record I like Jackson's idea for the alternate ending and wish they had shot it, though to be honest looking at the film as described by Jackson as opposed to whats on screen its clear that the director and the studio had more a thriller in mind and not the commentary Jackson's ending would have hammered home.
two.one.five Magazine writer, Sam Benesby reviews "Lakeview Terrace"
posted on 07 Jun 2009"Filmmaker Neil Lebute has been known to explore some of the more dark and sinister aspects of the human consciousness in previous works like In the Company of Men and The Shape of Things. In his new film, Lebute attempts to display the dark underbelly of modern American racism as conventionally as possible.The film begins when clearly conflicted single father Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) spots a young interracial couple moving into the house next door in his upper class Southern California neighborhood."Benesby gave this movie a 5.8 out of 10. Check out the rest of the review at http://www.215mag.com/reviews_detail.cfm/review/850/page/2/rcat/3
The Burbs in Color
posted on 07 Jun 2009Greetings again from the darkness. If director Neil LaBute's last film wasn't enough reason to boycott this film, surely the ridiculous trailer was, right? Well, not when one is addicted to movies and "Ghost Town" is the other weekend opener.Besides, LaBute does have "The Company of Men" on his resume, though that is more than negated by "Nurse Betty". But c'mon, Samuel L Jackson as an angry, prejudiced, screw-loose cop? That's got to have some good moments, eh? Sure enough, the first 30-45 minutes of the film deliver the level of uncomfortableness that LaBute was after. Viewers struggle to tell if Jackson is truly well meaning or actually the world's worst neighbor.The objects of his disaffection are Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, the interracial couple who move in next door. Jackson's menacing looks and words and his ability to flash a badge make for quite a nightmare for the two love birds.The film starts out seeming to test our beliefs and opinions on race but then spins off the axis and winds up being almost as ridiculous as "The Wicker Man" ... I said ALMOST! The last 45 minutes, I pretty much just kept thinking to myself ... "are you kidding". The ending certainly could have been handled much better given the few moments of brilliance throughout the movie. Quite the cop-out (pun intended).
A numb, albeit intellectually rewarding two hours.
posted on 05 Jun 2009Just how far down the barrel does one rotten apple manage to spoil its neighbours and how far can a gripping and unending bitterness take you down the path of insanity? Lakeview Terrace, a two hour sociology lesion tinged with arrays of psycho analysis fit for the screen goes about raising and answering these questions in what is an interesting but not entirely gripping experience. Addressing themes of racism, regret and many forms of domestic quibble, the movie is one that goes about delivering its themes with volume, but not exactly with conviction or memorable panache; it's a myriad of ideas, all intelligent and thought provoking that will no doubt engage viewers on their own merits, but moving far too slowly and jumping off into the absurd for its final act, Lakeview Terrace certainly feels like a nightmare experience, but its not one that will haunt you as much it should.Telling the story of newlywed couple and first-time homeowners Chris and Lisa Mattson as they move into their new neighbourhood under the watchful eye of stern police officer Abel Turner, writers David Loughery and Howard Korder tell the rather underused Neighbour from Hell story. Unluckily for them, Chris and Lisa soon become victim to Abel's unrelenting prejudices regarding their inter-racial relationship that draws the attention of his children for all the wrong reasons; but not the reasons that first caught Abel's attention of course. From here the movie makes it its sole purpose to develop the couple as victims to Abel- the evil villain with power on his side and who is more than able to produce ample tension and fear into his well-intentioned neighbours. For the most part, this is achieved, but the script transverses from A to B all too slowly, doing well in developing the three central characters, but distractedly so.Thankfully Director Neil LaBute knows well enough that the most engaging of antagonists have their fair share of lighter, more tragic sides; Abel has his fair share of such human qualities. In what is perhaps one of his finer performances of the past decade, Samuel Jackson here embodies his character with utter conviction and drives the movie forward even when it refuses to do so itself. Not only does he do a terrific job in conveying Abel's harsher, more intimidating side, but key instances where the focus is instead on why Abel is the way he is result in characterisation that feels well conceived and natural. Co-stars Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington don't necessarily have to do quite as much as Jackson, playing the sheepish everyday newlyweds from beginning to end, but they hold their own enough to keep the movie afloat.Despite some technical flaws in structure and implementation however, one of the most striking aspects of Lakeview Terrace is its aesthetic design which goes a long way to furthering the script's themes of racial paranoia and prejudice. One these central elements lies in Jeff and Mychael Danna's score, which opens and closes the movie with an intriguing fluidity and foreboding tension. Rogier Stoffers' photography remains, for the most part, simple, but when the script calls for stark images, he delivers amply, particularly through moments that bring in the movie's side-plot of sorts involving a spreading forest fire. Of course this fire not only provides for some stunning shots, but echoes the themes once more present within the screenplay, detailing an out of control fire spreading like a deadly poison through anything it comes within proximity to.In the end, one is likely to leave a screening of Lakeview Terrace with conflicting thoughts. The film, by all intents and purposes, is a strong and important one; delivering on themes without becoming too preachy or condescending, the feature gets its message across for sure, but then again it isn't going to be something you'll want to watch again any time soon. For those extremely interested in sociology and psychology, there will be plenty of material here to keep you interested, but a distinct lack of focus and direction hurts the movie's ability to keep the viewer engaged when bullet points are being dragged on. This, and a notably dubious third act belittle the ideas present within the script, making them interesting and thought provoking, but always in a vague subtext sort of way. Lakeview Terrace certainly addresses issues, but it doesn't confront them, at least not with the passion that one would expect, and that is its ultimate undoing; a numb, albeit intellectually rewarding two hours.- Written by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)
Rough scripting takes air out of promising plot and JAckson's performance
posted on 05 Jun 2009Widowed veteran LAPD officer Abel Turner(Samuel L.Jackson,in a great performance he doesn't get to do that often anymore)is very happy with his strict routine and secluded,well-earned lifestyle in the hills. For his own personal reasons,he is WAY less than pleased when the new neighbors turn out to be college-educated interracial couple Chris and Lisa Mattson(Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington). Needless to say,his displeasure will not stay below the surface for very long,hence your story's growing conflict.A fantastic plot-twisting where the oft-documented racist Los Angeles Police force is instead represented by a strong,mostly straight-laced black man,the scrutinized,potential hapless victims are either literally white(as the man in the couple)or white-cultured(both of them really)and the couple itself is not the norm(it seems like usually in these mixed raced relationships in TV and movies,the man would be black and the woman white,though this pairing I would guess isn't entirely unusual)is set up almost flawlessly through the first two-thirds,only to resolve itself a whole lot less so in the third act. Director Neil LaBute probably didn't want to burden himself with his usual interest and flair for much more difficult and tough to watch material,often drawn along gender lines,in favor of helming this much more straightforward project that doesn't quite expedite itself consistently(i.e. is this wanting to be more of a suspense film or does it lean toward a message?). Much of the supporting cast merely fades into the scenery,with probably the most notable--by process of elimination--being Truner's shy,awkward(and probably intimidated)kids and a large,thug-like associate of Turner's played by former NFL lineman(and fellow KU Jayhawk)Keith Loneker. Jackson's performance is clearly the best and most captivating element of the film(probably his all around best since 2002's Changing Lanes),and the subject material is plenty to chew on,but the follow-through of the movie,elements and all,lack consistency. Maybe more of a renter.
Good plot, could happen
posted on 03 Jun 2009I went to see this movie tonight, first of all I like Samuel L Jackson, whenever you go to watch his films you expect to see a good guy but this movie will give you a different feeling on this new character. From the films trailer you can kind of see Samuel L. Jackson as been picked to play the bad and rough cop in this film. Yes the film has a few racists one liners but at the end of the day it's the fact that this kind of thing really does happen in the world so that's what makes you take this film seriously instead of nip picking at the racism. The acting in this films i great, the plot works perfectly, a great thriller, probably the best thriller this year in my eyes.I just want to point out i'm not racist in any way at all, trust me there have been films with a lot more racism in than this but still well worth watching for a look at the world today.
Bold concept, uneven results
posted on 28 May 2009Neil LaBute has built his portfolio breathing life into movies and stage plays about dysfunctional individuals (usually men) who have difficulty fitting into relationships and societal norms. His first offering, 1997's In the Company of Men, earned him praise for his stark tale of two misogynist businessmen who conspire to romantically destroy a deaf woman, and is play "Bash: Latter Day Plays" earned him excommunication from the Church of Latter Day Saints for its unflattering portrayal of Mormons.With Lakeview Terrace, LaBute opts for the unconventional exploration of black-on-white and black-on-black prejudice with uneven results.Samuel L. Jackson plays Abel Turner, a veteran Los Angeles cop and single parent struggling to raise his two young kids. Turner's life has been scarred and ruptured by the death of his wife, who was killed in a car accident with her white lover while engaging in an affair – something that understandably has been festering in Turner's craw for some time.When the purchasers of the house next door turn out to be a racially mixed couple, Turner begins transposing his hatred on them as proxies for his wife's transgressions.Initially Turner's intimidating ways seem focused on bullying his new "liberal" neighbors into maintaining decorum and giving his kids a wide berth, but things soon progress into unstable territory as his years of being an alpha male with a gun and a badge begin to get the better of him. With each successful intimidation, Turner becomes emboldened to become a law unto himself.LaBute frames Turner's exploits against the backdrop of an escalating brushfire in the neighboring hills, which serves as metaphor for Turner's growing inner rage that threatens to consume the property and lives of everyone involved. LaBute's execution has all the subtlety of a gun butt to the head, which may actually have been his intention, given how he likely figured the audience would be comprised of escapist, action-seeking types not generally known for reflecting upon humanity's shortcomings.Jackson does everything asked of him as he shows the progression of what at first seems to be a well-intentioned and loving parent, into an unbridled bully. The problem comes in the film's final act as the story culminates in forced cacophony that pushes the boundary of believability over the edge. A small dose of well timed restraint would have transformed this movie from a semi-decent popcorn muncher into a more serious vehicle for reflection on human values and prejudices.
starts out strong and captivating... and then its motivations run dry and the drama turns to ill metaphors
posted on 22 May 2009I'm sure Neil LaBute is a talented director- I've enjoyed both Your Friends and Neighbors and the criminally underrated Nurse Betty (not seen In the Company of Men or Shape of Things, but heard great things about both, not so much the Wicker Man redux)- and Lakeview Terrace occasionally flashes some moments that reveal his understanding of the subject matter at hand. Other times, he just lets the screenwriters do it for him, and it turns out far less fascinating or really disturbing as it could have been. Early on the story speaks its promise: a conservative LA cop- yes, conservative first and foremost as one notes the character's disdain for democrats or just liberalism in general- played by Sam Jackson sees a white guy (Patrick Wilson) and black woman (Kerry Washington) move in. From the get-go there's hostility, if at first more subtle and just annoying. And there's some possible questions that could be raised in the course of the running time of the picture, if just as possibilities.But the problem, very soon to see, is that everything that motivates Jackson's character to act the way he does becomes twisted around a plot contrivance. I won't spoil it (not to really shield you from it, just because it's not worth it if you intend on seeing it), but something from Abel's history that shouldn't be so blatant and be more ambiguous or allow Jackson as an actor some room for subtlety or room for interpretation is shoved down our collective gullets. One might wish that there would be more room for three-dimensionality in general, but at best we get just 2D and at worst it's basically one continuous drumming beat until we almost kind of dread Jackson's character coming in on Wilson and Washingtons' scenes, not so much because he's supposed to be menacing but because it throws off the flow of the story. It's not even that Jackson is bad in the performance, on the contrary he does the best he can and sometimes does bring that flash or just flinch of the face that reminds us how good an actor he can be.LaBute can't figure out entirely how to proceed with a highly charged drama, however, without a heavy-handed metaphorical device. It is a fact that the Southern California has been a hot-bed of wildfires spreading all about, destroying lots of pricey property and leveling to waste millions (maybe billions) of dollars of revenue. The tactic here in Lakeview Terrace is to take that symbol of fire burning down a city and transplant it into the burning down of racial bonding and peace and yada yada, and it's not really a metaphor/symbol/whatever that hits right away - but when it does, yikes is it an over-bearing claptrap made especially for the climax (I was almost pining for that also hackneyed Haggis formula of crashes in Crash).And, again, motivation and really well-defined characters end up sinking this after the promising first act; as soon as Abel's agitation turns to practically psychotic behavior, it's hard to actually connect with this past something out of a horror movie. And I don't mean that as something for a cathartic reaction or other. Wilson and Washingtons' characters don't help much either as we're privy to a contrived sub-plot involving an "unintentional" pregnancy (not to mention Jackson's own semi-interesting sub-plot with him screwing up on the force). By the end it turns to being laughable as a quasi-revenge quasi-what-the-hell treatise on uneasy racial relations where just some more hints of unintentional racism, as opposed to just the sinister presence of big-bad-black-*cop*, might be an advantage. 5.5/10
Taut and well acted but with a nearly unforgivable ending
posted on 28 Aug 2009Seven. Yes, seven. No, I'm not talking about the David Fincher directed thriller, nor am I referring to Samurai, Dwarfs or the lucky number. In this context, seven denotes the number of wince inducing minutes it takes for Lakeview Terrace to throw it all away.Particular genres of movies tend to have a nasty propensity to ruin their final acts, the foremost of those being thrillers and horror films. May it be an amateur director not knowing how to complete their vision, studio intervention sucking the life from the screen or the commonly occurring revelatory "shocker" ending which tries to jam too many ideas in the viewer's already bleeding sockets. Oddly, director Neil LaBute's latest offering does not succumb to a conventional destructive timeline, but instead opts to cataclysmically implode in literally the final scenes, a feat which few films can boast. Perhaps I am being an iota harsh, as I am recommending this film and the majority of this review will be skewed favourably, but chiefly, my unbounded feelings of contempt towards the finale should stand as a testament to their standalone absurdity which contrasts harshly with the preceding 90 or so minutes.Samuel L. Jackson has had a vibrant career portraying characters in two spectrums of the acting realm. On one side we have his depictions that can be lumped into the loud-mouthed anti-hero category (Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Snakes on a Plane), and on the other, his more nuanced (as nuanced as Sam Jackson can be) roles. (Black Snake Moan, Resurrecting the Champ, Coach Carter) Lakeview Terrace to some extent blurs this boundary, but for the most part Jackson plays his role straight, and he is very good because of it. Jackson plays Abel Turner a veteran, but widowed LAPD officer who lives his daughter Celia (Regine Nehy) and Son Marcus (Jaishon Fisher) on Lakeview Terrace in the hills. He is strict to be sure and his protective nature sometimes obscures the obvious affection for his children. It is touches like this, and similar additions by LaBute that makes his character all the more menacing when the tension later builds, as he is not so much a faceless villain, but a deeply flawed everyman. Despite an encroaching wildfire, things are routine on Lakeview; Abel patrols the neighbourhood at night, loves his job and wants nothing more then to protect his family. Things change however when a new couple move in next door. The fact that husband Chris (Patrick Wilson) wife Lisa (Keri Washington) are interracial is only the fuel for Abel's contempt, and when his children witness a late-night skinny dip by these two newlyweds, the fire erupts and Abel and Chris' lives spiral out of control.Fashioning Abel as a cop is an intelligent choice, as per the television advertisements indicate, what are they going to do, and who are the authorities going to believe; who will police the police indeed. The tension for the duration is so high, you don't even need a knife to cut it, and a definite sense of dread and menace perforates the narrative. LaBute, truthfully, makes few mistakes, he allows for character development, and as I mentioned not just regarding Chris and Lisa, lets the story develop at a slow burning pace, with the hillside fires mirroring the escalating tempers. The story is also far more insightful and caring then I ever would have anticipated regarding the complicated issue of race and marriage, without feeling shoehorned into the thriller template. As you can clearly discern I have a fairly large amount of admiration for Lakeview Terrace, which brings me to the ending.Few endings I have seen have represented such a radical shift in tone, and made its characters undertake such ridiculous and uncharacteristic actions then we see here; and I assure you it is jarring. The immediately preceding act, is an iota off kilter with the acts preceding, but does not draw attention and properly illustrates the consequences when things are taken too far in the name of retribution. I was fully under the impression that things were going to end sharply until Abel's character jolts erratically from intelligent saboteur to volcanic lunatic and makes a series of choices that are against both his nature, and what the audience would want to see transpire. Either Abel lost his mind, or the director did. Those who seek out this film in theatres may be disappointed and feel the conclusion somehow managed to bilk them out of their cash like a sneaky pickpocket. LaBute's finale does not so much embody a slap in the face, but a swift hard kick to the groin.Read all my reviews at Simon Says Movies: http://simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com/