Review of Lakeview Terrace (2008) by Blake P — 21 Jun 2013

Poor, poor "Lakeview Terrace." When it comes to films that have a good cast and a good director that end up being bad, I always want to moan. I can say that with seriousness here, due to all of the potential-- Samuel L. Jackson is such a terrific actor (no exception here, however) and Neil LaBute normally is a director capable of taking a dark story and twisting it into something interesting. Despite a premise that could be filled with controversial gold, "Lakeview Terrace" ultimately gets on your nerves and gets into the unwanted category of ridiculousness.

Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington) are a young married couple that move into a ritzy neighborhood, due to Chris' job and, thankfully for Chris, away from Lisa's cloying family. Here's the thing: they're an interracial couple. I know what you're already thinking; why is this guy acting like an interracial couple is a bad thing? Well, I'll tell you: it's not. This aspect however, controls most of the film. That's its biggest problem.

The poor couple just happens to move in at a bad time, as the sweltering heat of the Californian summer is engulfing nearby neighborhoods and, more importantly, their next door neighbor, the aging, African-American LAPD officer Abel (Jackson), seems to be out to get them. He's the kind of man that says, "You're a tough guy. There must be some Irish in you." or "No matter how much you listen to that [rap music], you're still going to wake up in the morning and be white." That's only paraphrasing of course, but the point is is that Abel has a few racial issues.

When I say racial issues, it's pointed straight at Chris and Lisa, whose marriage rings deeply upsetting to him, and when he finally does come out and say it, it doesn't come to much of a surprise. He's obviously a wacko, and we already don't like him because he's mean to his kids and is a hypocrite. And while we're thinking his, he manages to harass the couple, while Chris puts on a macho façade and begs him to stop, which only makes it worse.

From the moment the film begins, "Lakeview Terrace" is uncomfortable. Abel is the kind of man where you can easily see that there is hate bubbling underneath the surface, and we can expect it to boil over at any second. He's an enigmatic villain because his motivations are never clearly explained-- we know that he's deranged and corrupt, but why? Where did it all get started? It apparently stems from his wife's mysterious death, but why the racism? He has friends of all ethnicities.

The biggest problem seems to be from the screenplay. LaBute obviously wants a reaction from his audience, one that wants us to talk about how racism still exists, and even if it does, everything on display feels somewhat irrelevant. LaBute wants us to believe that Abel doesn't like the couple because they are an interracial one, but based off of what I saw, it was because Chris rubbed him the wrong way and Lisa gave his daughter "inappropriate" advice. Maybe if this film was done in 1962 it would be a lot more shocking, but today, it's somewhat odd and out of place.

A tragedy on display here, however, isn't the screenplay or LaBute's failure: it's how excellent not only Jackson's, but also Wilson's and Washington's performances are, yet they get to go nowhere. Jackson is never short of terrifying, but his motivations are so unclear that he gets dressed up with no place to go. Wilson's pretty-boy image is put to good use as his character tries hard to make his marriage work out while keeping Abel at bay, but there are many instances where his actions are monotonous. Washington in the meantime, is gorgeous and so full of energy, but is given very few scenes of power. When she does grasp them, however, they're nothing short of grand.

"Lakeview Terrace" is an odd case, because there is a lot of good on display, but there's very few to enjoy. So much is implausible-- I try not to be that kind of critic, as many movies defy logic-- but this film just seems unsure of what it's trying to achieve.