Review of Surveillance (2008) by Larry M — 30 Jul 2009

I don't know if this is supposed to be funny or not. I hope so. But even if it's supposed to be, it's not. I like Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond, and Pell James was good in The King, but their talents are wasted in this pathetic excuse for a movie from writer/director Jennifer Chambers Lynch (daughter of David).

She tries very hard to inject this movie with a weirdness similar to that made famous by her father, and it starts out looking promising. But, as soon as we are introduced to the two police officers played by French Stewart and Kent Harper, the film loses all credibility.

I don't believe there are policemen who would be so stupid as to perform the outrageous acts that these two engage in. Admittedly, there are corrupt police officers in the world, but the behaviour of these two is so reprehensible and so easily traced back to them (through ballistics, etc.

) that suspension of disbelief just isn't an option for the viewer. And if you can't believe the actions of the characters in a film, at least on some level, if you can't see them as believably human, then how can you care what happens to them? You can't, and in this film I didn't.

The only character that was remotely sympathetic was the young girl Stephanie (Ryan Simpkins), but the film has been so poisoned by the other characters that it's impossible to care what happens to anyone in it.

You just want it to be over as quickly as possible, so you can go find a good movie to watch to take away the bad taste that this one has left in your mouth.