D i s t u r b i a

Return to the Main Page

Summary:
After deservedly punching his Spanish teacher in the face, Kale is sentenced to house arrest. During his boredom he resorts to neighbor watching from his house windows. Soon, he starts believing that one of his neighbors is a killer.

Review:
For a teeny thriller that will always be referred to as a knock-off of Rear Window (please, stop talking about it), this delivers in the entertainment area, mostly due to the great performances of the principal actors. Shia LeBeouf was outstanding as Kale. I could feel his frustrations and boredom. I was with him from open to close, and always impressed with his earnest delivery and believable onscreen emotions. He was spot on and always "fresh" through each scene. I'll raise my glass to you, Mr. LeBeouf! Bravo!
That's not to say he was the only one worth watching. For the fleeting moments that Aaron Yoo shows up as his good buddy, I sometimes am on the verge of thinking, "Ho, shit, this guy's character is so stupid" but then Yoo pulls through like a champ and I end up thinking "Hey, he actually ain't that bad." I mean the dude KNOWS when he's doing something stupid but still does it anyway. However, his apprehension helps keep the suspension of disbelief on check. Then of course David Morse comes through like he always does. He's ambiguously polite and freaky at the same time. His mutishly cold and slightly concerned stare really made you wonder what was going on behind those eyes. Bravo! As for Sarah Roemer... nice butt, but the face needs some work. Performance-wise she did what had to be done and even though I consider her the weakest of these four, she still did a pretty damned good job.

Disturbia works for the majority of the time, and then the final reel kind of falls apart. Perhaps ("Asskiss" - hehe) the pacing lagged a bit during the introductory boredom of his initial house arrest, as well as lingers a little too heavily on his spying on his hot new neighbor before she joins in the fun. It was still an enjoyable time for me, but others might be wishing for more shit to go down - and sooner. That's an acceptable desire.
Caruso's directing was solid as well, with some wonderfully setup scenarios that had me feeling the nervous glee of two teenage boys oggling a hot neighbor in her pool and getting caught, or with a couple of race-against-time moments in which they try to get information on Mr. Turner's house. I was feeling nervous FOR them! Once again, I give credit to the many things that were done right with Disturbia. I found myself enjoying this movie a lot more than expected.

The real problems begin when we finally find out if Mr. Turner is good or bad, and the final 15 minutes turns into a lengthy conclusion which not only revealed itself too easily, but also should have ended much sooner. I don't want to give away spoilers, so I'm left being cryptic about a truly simple problem. I'll just say that once the last "exciting" moment occurs, I wonder how things unfolded so quickly. I was getting a little bored at the inevitable resolution, and wished that the movie would have been cut a good 5 minutes to speed things up. There were some nicely choreographed moments, but it just went on too long.

I would give a much higher score for Disturbia if it wasn't for that damned final reel. I was having a really good time with Kale and crew, and just wished that the end could have been on par with all the fun I had before that. Then again, it's a much better movie than it could have been. I was expecting about as much as I got from it, and even more with the wonderful performances by the leads. So with that, I can't say it was a waste of time. This movie is meant to BE a waste of time, to not tax the brain and just entertain. I was entertained, and that's ultimately all I really want from a movie like this.

Oh! And one more thing: When you're looking into other peoples' houses with binoculars and shit - especially at night - turn your fucking lights off!!

GRADE: C+

Reviewed 4/14/07