Shawn's Lakeview Terrace Review

2008 Movie #111 - Lakeview Terrace

Well this is officially the worst I've been at updating this thing. I literally watched this movie a few days after it came out and here we are, approaching a month later and I'm just now getting around to writing it. Granted I've had a lot on my plate and have generally been playing a lot more video games than watching movies. Quitting the theatre also didn't help since movies are no longer free and I'm no longer in a movie theatre almost every day. However I would have even less free time otherwise. Anyway that's enough explaining myself to...basically myself.

When the trailer for this movie was first shown, I was excited. It became a fantastic running joke at work. I mean how amazing is Samuel L. Jackson cutting down bushes and screaming at people? Personally I feel every movie could use a scene where that happens. We would sit around at work on slow days and come up with theories as to just why Sam Jackson is so pissed off at this couple. Unfortunatly when you see the movie and find out that answer, you're immediatly disappointed. Then you realize that the movie really doesnt' have much else going for it.

I do like Sam Jackson. I think he plays the same role a lot but he's good at it and no matter what shitty movie he finds himself in (and he often finds himself in some pretty shitty ones) he seems like he is at least trying. Plus watching a Sam J movie is always fun because you're just waiting for him say motherfucker. You always know it's coming. Except in this movie I don't think he ever actually did say it. So you can just chalk that up as another disappointment.

The movie reminds me of those thrillers you used to see all the time in the early-mid nineties. In fact I bet this movie would have fit perfectly in at the time. It also reminds you of why those movies aren't really made anymore. They all follow the same formula pretty much to a tee. I was most excited to see how this movie played out, only to find it mostly played it safe and went exactly the way you thought it would.

Also the characters in this movie are almost across the board unlikable. Sam's character is supposed to be insane but when you hear the reason why you can't help but go "really that's it?" I'm pretty sure that kind of things happens to people all the time. Then again it doesn't happen to Sam Jackson and he reacts differently than any other human on the planet. The wife has a moment where she purposely stops taking her birth control pills to essentially trick her husband into getting her pregnant. That's a pretty terrible move on it's own, but then she proceeds to get mad at him when's upset about it. What? WHAT?! She even yells at him about sneaking cigarettes. Any sympathy with her character was killed in that moment.

So the movie isn't bad, but it feels like wasted potential. The movie is never boring, but all the most interesting parts are already in the trailer. The rest is just sort of padding between these parts. You could do worse, that's about the best I can say.

**/5