Lakeview Terrace (2008)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Neil LaBute

Writers (WGA):

David Loughery (screenplay) and
Howard Korder (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 September 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

What could be safer than living next to a cop?

Plot:

An LAPD officer will stop at nothing to force out the interracial couple who just moved in next door.

Plot Keywords:

Lapd | Neighbor | Interracial Couple | Cell Phone | Strict Father

Cast

Samuel L. Jackson	...	Abel Turner
Patrick Wilson	...	Chris Mattson
Kerry Washington	...	Lisa Mattson
Ron Glass	...	Harold Perreau
Justin Chambers	...	Donnie Eaton
Jay Hernandez	...	Javier Villareal
Regine Nehy	...	Celia Turner
Jaishon Fisher	...	Marcus Turner
Robert Pine	...	Captain Wentworth
Keith Loneker	...	Clarence Darlington
Caleeb Pinkett	...	Damon Richards
Robert Dahey	...	Jung Lee Pak
Ho-Jung	...	Sang Hee Pak
Bitsie Tulloch	...	Nadine
Michael Sean Tighe	...	Manager

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense thematic material, violence, sexuality, language and some drug references.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

UK:15 | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Australia:MA | South Korea:15 | Ireland:15A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44057) | Denmark:15 | Malaysia:U | France:U | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:12 | Mexico:B | Germany:12 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Overbrook Entertainment

Trivia:

Lakeview Terrace is the name of the area that Rodney King was beaten by L.A. police in 1991. His name and famous line, "Can't we all just get along?" is also referenced in the movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As the fires are encroaching closer to the homes on Lakeview Terrace/Circle, no mention or even suggestion of ash is made. With a wildfire raging that close to the neighborhood, and especially towards the end of the film, the air could be very toxic and should, at least, be extremely ashen.

Quotes:

Abel Turner: I am the police! You *have* to do what I say!

Movie Connections:

References "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (2008)

Soundtrack:

We Pop

if only they could've come up with a more CREATIVE ending

There's an inherent problem with making a movie of this kind: unless you're a creative genius of your time, these sorts of movies have the potential to turn real generic, REAL fast.

Reminiscent of Denzel Washington from Training Day, we see Samuel L. Jackson play an overly aggressive cop with an agenda, with the movie focusing on the problems he's causing for his new neighbors. A completely realistic situation that can take place anywhere. Problem is, because a movie like this is completely character driven, after you have the nice slow build up to the climax, once the tension snaps, you're relegated to basically a generically default final act of the movie where "the bad guy finally comes out of the proverbial shadows and literally chases the hero." (i.e. Disturbia, The Glass House). It's a shame too because the buildup on this was very good. Samuel L. Jackson was really scary here, he played that bullying, obsessive character perfect. The only acting problems I saw were 2-3 moments from Kerry Washington where her sad face was done poorly, with overly done lip quivers and facial movements (similar to Kirsten Dunst's crying scenes from the Spider-Man movies, except done in a BAD way).

With a movie like this, you pretty much have these possible outcomes:

1) the generic, semi-predictable ending (like we got here). 2) tragic ending with hero dying at the end. 3) an unpredictable twist coming out of left field (this has the potential to be very good or very bad). 4) a Great ending.

Unfortunately we usually get number one, since they wanna give the satisfying, safe, effective, tried and true, Hollywood ending. Most people are content with those types of cop out endings. I'm not.