Review #149: Lakeview Terrace (2008)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Neil LaBute (Director): Nurse Betty (2000), The Wicker Man (2006)

Samuel L. Jackson (Abel Turner): Deep Blue Sea

Patrick Wilson (Chris Mattson): The Phantom of the Opera (2004), Hard Candy (2005), The Alamo (2004), The Watchmen (2009)

Kerry Washington (Lisa Mattson): Ray (2004), Fantastic Four (2005) & 2 (2007), Little Man (2006)

Justin Chambers (Donnie Eaton): The Zodiac (2005), The Wedding Planner (2001)

Ron Glass (Harold Perreau): Serenity (2005), Barney Miller & Firefly T.V. series

Jay Hernandez (Javier Villareal): Hostel, Hostel 2, Joy Ride, The Rookie (2001), Torque (2004), Friday Night Lights (2004), Quarantine (2008)

Robert Pine (Captain Wentworth): Empire of the Ants (1977), ID4 (1996), Red Eye (2005)

Keith Loneker (Clarence Darlington): Rock Star (2001), Superbad (2007), Leatherheads (2008)

Trailer:

Plot:

A couple (Chris & Lisa Mattson) moves into a Los Angeles suburb hillside house only to find that their dream house has a flaw with it…a disturbing neighbor. The Mattson’s are a mixed race couple, Chris being white and Lisa being African American, and that upsets their neighbor, Abel Turner (who is African American...and also the American Bad *ss himself, Samuel L. Jackson).

Abel is a hard working, blue collar, old school type of guy who happens to be a LAPD officer. Turner is also a father of two children after losing his wife in a fatal car accident a few years earlier. Abel isn’t too fond of their interracial relationship and holds a deep grudge against Chris as he makes several race oriented remarks in their early exchanges.

The Mattson’s and Abel’s relationship starts off on the wrong note as they have a “late night” party in their backyard swimming pool. Abel catches his two kids witnessing the couple’s extracurricular activity through an upstairs window. To say the least, it sets off Abel. Me, personally I would throw in a bag of microwavable popcorn and catch some late night highlights.

The start of neighbor squabbles kicks off as the two households bicker amongst themselves. One of the key issues between the two is the security lights on Abel’s house. Being security minded Abel leaves his floodlight security lights on all night long as they shine directly into the Mattson’s bedroom keeping them up all night. After numerous pleas by the Mattson’s, Abel continues to keep them on.

The Mattson’s reach out numerous times to trying to “bury the hatchet” between them and Abel, but he continues to be pigheaded and stubborn. Abel uses his “I’m a police officer” status to bully the couple around. The Mattson’s firmly stand their ground and refuse to move from their home.

In a desperate attempt to force the Mattson’s to move Abel hires a local drug dealer to storm and trash their house when they’re not home. The plan backfires when Lisa comes home and finds the intruder in her house. She panics and sets off the family’s security alarm.

Abel and Chris are both down the road at a neighbor’s house when they hear the alarm go off. They both run over to respond to the emergency. Abel shoots the assailant while Chris looks around the house for Lisa.

The rest of the neighbors and police show up before Abel can discard some crucial evidence hiding in the house which links him to the crime. Abel now must sneak back into the Mattson’s residence to find the evidence and get out before he is noticed.

Villain:

Samuel L. Jackson plays the bad neighbor, Abel Turner. Abel is a shady veteran LAPD officer and he is very strict and rule orientated father. Naturally…since he is the bad *ss Samuel L. Jackson…Abel is very intimidating to others, especially Chris. Abel isn’t afraid to play the “race card” when it comes to getting his way or gaining leverage against someone.

Due to the stressful nature of his job as a LAPD officer and loss of his wife, Abel has grown emotionally and mentally unstable. Abel does things one way…his way or no way. It happens to be a dangerous mindset as he battles with his new neighbors over the smallest things.

Samuel L. is the man, but this movie really didn’t do anything to help his legacy. I kept confusing his character with the one he had in the movie, “S.W.A.T.”. He was good in that one too.

Cast:

The core of the cast centers on the characters of Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa Mattson (Kerry Washington). Chris is a pretty weak character as he ends up getting pushed around by others in his life (Abel and his father-in-law).

In L.T. Chris (Pictured right) demonstrates the typical “man of the house” complex as he tries to handle the situations between him and Abel Turner. It’s a little pathetic how he brushes off his wife’s advice and thinks he can take on the peace negotiations himself.

Chris also wants “E.L.E.” (everybody love everybody), but ends up being a tool as Samuel L. intimidates the hell out of him leaving Chris as powerful as a dog with his tail between his legs. Chris takes the same crap from his father-in-law who pretends Chris isn’t there half the time.

Lisa is the strong one of the household. I thought that L.T. should have capitalized on her strong will a little bit more. She clearly is the brains of the household and a more likable character than Chris…and that’s just not because she looks great in a bikini. It helps though.

One thing I hated about Lisa is that she pulled the “baby card” on Chris. Damn women! The couple agreed to hold off on children for a while, but Lisa conveniently forgets to take her birth control pills for some time. I know that Chris acts like a little b*tch about the surprise, but still…that’s cold of her.

SFX/Gore:

The film featured a couple deaths but there wasn’t a whole lot in terms of gore. I expected that because L.T. is more of a “thriller” than a “slasher” flick. It would have been nice to see a couple more random deaths though. Maybe a father-in-law or dumb friend or something.

TNA:

L.T. offers very little from the TNA category outside of the usual eye candy movies thrive on. Kelly Washington (Pictured below) is the film’s main squeeze. L.T. does a great job of featuring her in skimpy bikini outfits as she makes good use of the couple’s swimming pool.

T.Gun’s Take:

In the end, how did L.T. hold up? Well I thought that it was an okay film. I liked the idea of a crazed neighbor who happened to be a cop, but the film fell short of my expectations. There were a couple of fun “get underneath your neighbor’s skin” games, but I would have liked to see a lot more crueler things done to one another.

The biggest dispute between the two neighbors was the security light issue. For the Mattson’s, why didn’t they just go out to buy a set of good blinds? They talked and argued about it all movie long but never did anything about it.

I know that lights can be an annoyance, but if that’s the biggest dispute between neighbors…I’m just disappointed. I would have liked to have seen more things like the slashed tires and f*cking with the air condition unit. Those were just minor occurrences in the grand scheme of things.

Overall L.T. is a decent rental movie, but I would have preferred it to be a little better than what it was. L.T. reminds us that we should research just a little bit more before buying our houses. Sure we may find a dream house, but if the neighbor suck, then it might not be worth it…unless you’re a hermit and stay inside the house every minute of the day.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on September 19, 2008 and made $39.2 million at the Box Office ($15 million opening weekend)
-Keith Loneker was a former NFL player for the St.Louis Rams
-Lakeview Terrace is the name of the area that Rodney King was beaten by the police in 1991