Lakeview Terrace Reviews
Thanks for checking out our Lakeview Terrace reviews. The video version of our Lakeview Terrace review is at the bottom of this post if you’d like to check that out.
Not many people can deny that, love him or hate him, Samuel L Jackson is one of the hardest working and prolific actors in the business today. It seems like his name is on the credits list for 3 out of every 10 films that hit the theaters today. I mean hell… in the last 2 years alone the man has been in Snakes on a Plane, Black Snake Moan, Home of the Brave, Resurrecting the Champ, 1408, Cleaner, Jumper, now Lakeview Terrace, and is coming up in The Spirit and about 5 other project. And to me, he’s usually money. Yes, I’m one of those guys who really appreciates Samuel L Jackson… even when the movies he chooses to be in aren’t all that good. So how does Lakeview Terrace work out for him? Not so well unfortunately.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for Lakeview Terrace reads something like this: “Chris Mattson (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa Mattson (Kerry Washington), a young interracial couple, have just moved into their California dream home when they become the target of their next-door neighbor, who disapproves of their interracial relationship. A stern, widowed-single father of two, LAPD officer Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) is the watchdog of the neighborhood. His nightly foot patrols and overly watchful eyes bring comfort to some, but he becomes increasingly harassing to the newlyweds. The persistent intrusions into the lives of Chris and Lisa ultimately take a turn for the worse when the couple decides to fight back.”
THE GOOD
On it’s surface, the general premise sounds like a promising one. Many of us can relate to having neighbors that we don’t exactly get along with. Maybe we’ve even had some tension with the people next door. Most of us have never had outright hostility with our neighbors, but I think most of us have at least WORRIED about that concept… so there is a degree of relateability in the premise. And the theme of a “bad cop” is one we’ve seen a thousand times… so that one generally works.
The one thing I appreciated the most about Lakeview Terrace is the complexity of Samuel L Jackson’s character. Yes, he’s the “bad guy” of the movie (which is made obvious in the trailers), but he’s not cut and dry bad. He is in principle a good man who has had tragedy in his life which has effected him in terrible (and yet not obvious) ways. He still wants to be a good man… sees himself as a good man… wants the best for his kids and community… but is so bruised and damaged that his actions and attitudes become dictated by his issues. I really enjoyed that aspect of this character, and true to form, Samuel L Jackson played it perfectly.
THE BAD
This is a very boring movie. Look, we all understood from the trailer and the 60 second commercials and even just the posters, that there are 2 sets of neighbors, one is a cop and they don’t get along. There is tension. I got that and understood that clearly from a 60 second commercial. Why then do the film makers feel it necessary to take over an hour of the movie just to establish that. “Oh look… there’s some tension between the neighbors”. “Oh look… now there’s MORE tension between the neighbors”. “Hey look, see how the ension is building between the neighbors”? YES!!!!! I frigging get it! Now let’s see something actually HAPPEN!!!!! It was very frustrating.
The movie tries to intelligently address some race issues… specifically inter-racial relationships (Jackson’s new next door neighbors are a mixed couple with a white husband and black wife). The problem is, it felt completely clueless and about 10 years too late. Yes, as you’ll see in the movie the issues are a specific point of contention for Jackson, but as a whole it felt irrelevant in today’s world. Maybe my person view on this issue is skewed because my last long term girlfriend was black and I (as a very white dude) never had a single issue with anyone. Anyway, the issue felt forced in the film and always stood out to be as a little desperate.
OVERALL
Lakeview Terrace ends up being a very slow, boring, directionless film that is almost compensated by a terrific character and performance by Samuel L Jackson… but it doesn’t quite do it. The movie was all premise and no execution sadly. Overall I give Lakeview Terrace a 3 out of 10.
The video version of our Lakeview Terrace review can be seen here:
16 Comments, Comment or Ping
Josh Brunsting
Great review! I agree with the fact that the trailers do really make the story and what will happen obvious, but I really came out on the other end of it. I didn’t think this was a great film at all, but I do think it’s a solid, 3 star flick. It’s got great performances, the story is compelling, and the interchanges between Jackson and Wilson were pretty tense. Also, the editing in this film, while sort of shlocky, added to the tension by giving the interchanges a couple of extra beats where the camera just lingers in the silence between the two characters. Coming off of The Wicker Man, LaBute has redeemend himself, at least to me. While not a great movie, I did like it…
Great review though! Really solid points, and I’ve been hearing similar thoughts from friends of mine who have seen it.
Sep 22nd, 2008
Joe
i agree from the trailer it didnt look that interesting and this review answered that for me but what i really want to know more then the review is were have the uncut podcast been for the past week end
Sep 22nd, 2008
aaron
John i do agree, that everything but the end was “oh look, tension between the neighbors!” i was shcoked, an hour through i was like “ok..i get it.” but they waited till the end for an OK fight scene. overall i liked it, but not loved it
Sep 22nd, 2008
HAZMAT_PWNS_ALL
i LOVE it when john/doug/rodney do reviews and theyre like fucking 2.5/10
idk why but it makes me smile…like the movie fucking SUCKED
its just comical to see how much a movie failed and how harsh the review is lol
ive never seen a one though….or a zero…that would be insanely funny though…
Sep 22nd, 2008
Bruce79
John… I never knew you were down with the swirl! Rock on!
On a serious note… it’s a shame that this movie seems to be getting such horrible reviews. I’m half white/asian and my wife is black… so to be honest, I was sort of looking forward to seeing this film because it hit on issues with interracial couples (I think society has come a long way in accepting interracial couples… but I’m a little surprised that you NEVER had any issues in your last relationship… did you guys ever go out?). Anyways, I guess it’ll be one for the Netflix.
Sep 22nd, 2008
Phil Gee
Isn’t this the no.1 movie in America right now?
Sep 22nd, 2008
aaron
mhm but not by much
Sep 22nd, 2008
790
First thing that came into my mind when I saw this trailer was the Kurt Russell film “Unlawfull Entry”,,, another blantant ripoff.
Second thing that came to mind was, “why dosnt this guy hire a Private Investigator, you can typically find some that are X-Internal Affairs.
All this cop would have to do is break the law, one time and he would be under review, suspended etc.
Third thing that came to mind was how much I detest Sam Jackson. He’s become nothing but annoying and seriously overplayed…
Sep 22nd, 2008
Slushie Man
I actually thought this movie was really awesome and far from boring.
I also only ever saw one trailer for it, once, in front of 88 Minutes, so I knew very little going into the movie.
Sep 22nd, 2008
Justin
I don’t have neighbors to hate guess I’m shit out of luck today!
Sep 23rd, 2008
Justin
John would Alec Bladwin have saved this movie as say the third neighbor who reveals himself 90 minutes into it?
Sep 23rd, 2008
Ally
(Type your comment here. Make sure you’ve read the commenting rules before doing so)
This movie was slow and boring. I loved S.Jackson’s performance but overall the trailer was the movie. No surprises, no movie after thought, nothing at all surprising. Typical ending. Similiar to watching a ” Lifetime television for women ” movie.
Wish I had waited to see on dvd rental. Because it was worth about $2 of my money.
Sep 23rd, 2008
Commenter
Come on, it was okay! We have seen a lot worse pieces of crap in theaters. Even if the ending was dumb. Samuel Jackson was cool.
Sep 24th, 2008
watever
OMG THIS MOVIE SUCKED-IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LONG AND SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BORING-DONT WATCH IT-UNLESS U WANNA WAISTE UR TIME-IT WAS SOO FREAKIN STUPID-THE PLOT SUCKED-THE MOVIE SUCKED-THE WHOLE THING SUCKED—DONT WATCH-ITS NOT WORTH PAYIN 10 DOLLARS OR WATEVER-ITS NOT EVEN WORTH WATCHIN IT FOR FREE-JUST MY OPION-ULL WAISTE 2 HRS OF UR LIFE WATCHIN THIS MOVIE-
Sep 24th, 2008
Jen
Dude, I don’t know what nice tolerant place you’re living in, but opposition to interracial relationships is NOT dead. My best friend (black) is married to a white guy, and they get a ton of crap. The other interracial couples I know also get a lot of crap. It’s not behind us, and it won’t be for a while.
Sep 25th, 2008
Mike
This movie was so bad I had to walk out…but I am curious how it ended. Can anyone share? Its been out a few weeks so i doubt anyone is going to be *spoiled*
Sep 26th, 2008
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