Review of Lakeview Terrace (2008) by James M — 09 Dec 2010

A young married couple move into their new home and make an enemy of the overbearing and overprotective cop who lives next door. Lakeview Terrace is very much a mainstream Hollywood thriller that pretty much exists solely for Sam Jackson fans to get their jollies watching him act like an asshole.

Its very familiar formula of neighbour-from-hell also skirts around race issues as the couple in question are mixed race (I can only assume things are a bit different socially in America as this wouldn't raise an eyebrow in Britain in this day and age) but the fact that it all revolves around feeling sorry for the trials of a middle class white man feels a little too "Michael Douglas" to extract any real sympathy from me.

Technically, it's a solidly made film with decent performances but it's all a little too over familiar and contrived (particularly the lazy ending) to rate as anything more than watchable. One for the middle class parents of all the wiggas who loved Training Day I suspect.