Film Reviews

Lakeview Terrace

• Rating:
• Director: Neil LaBute
• Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson
• Details: USA/ 110mins / (TBC)

Neil LaBute is a writer and director who once made uncompromisingly cold character pieces that explored the darker side of human nature. Both In The Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbours were forlorn, layered studies of men that offered little room for sanguinity. Then, for some inexplicable reason, he remade The Wicker Man and had Nicolas Cage roundhouse-kicking women who were trying to sacrifice his ass. Lakeview Terrace is a direct response to that film, much like World Trade Center was Oliver Stone's riposte to the failure of Alexander. He's essentially a director for hire here, simply paying the bills; and while this is hardly an awful film, it's pretty obvious that no one's heart is fully in it. Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington are the new couple in an LA neighbourhood, who move next door to Samuel L. Jackson's LAPD Officer, who doesn't take too kindly to the interracial couple frolicking in their pool within eyeshot of his two young kids. Intimidation tactics ensue, as he basically makes it clear that he doesn't want them in his area. Pretty soon, his actions have escalated beyond reprieve and the young couple's honeymoon is firmly over. For most of its running time, you get the feeling that Lakeview Terrace is building towards something. The status of a foreboding forest fire approaching the neighbourhood is constantly updated on the TV and radio, but Jackson's character is so disjointed and contradictory that it never really flows properly. He's neither a villain nor a hero - but, instead of being a three-dimensional, realistic character, he just comes across like a jealous, bigoted asshole. LaBute makes a half-hearted attempt to subtly paint other characters in the same light so we may think that it's a 'society' thing, but the script is never smart enough to pull it off, and by that stage you won't care, anyway. Jackson is his usual commanding self for the most part, while Wilson does more with his character than the banal material should warrant. LaBute is better than this, but he may need to remind us just how good he was soon - before we all forget.

Review by Mike Sheridan