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Lakeview Terrace
Screen Gems (Sony)


6.7

based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 13 votes
Read user comments
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for intense thematic material, violence, sexuality, language and some drug references

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington, Eva La Rue, and Bitsie Tulloch

In Lakeview Terrace, a young couple has 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, single father, this tightly wound LAPD officer has appointed himself 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. These persistent intrusions into their lives ultimately turn tragic when the couple decides to fight back. (Sony Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	David Loughery Howard Korder
DIRECTED BY:	Neil LaBute
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 27, 2009 Theatrical: September 19, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	110 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

I find movies like this alive and provoking, and I'm exhilarated to have my thinking challenged at every step of the way.

100

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Lakeview Terrace isn't literally about the riots, but it's still one of the toughest racial dramas to come out of Hollywood since the fires died down--much tougher, for instance, than Paul Haggis’s hand-wringing Oscar winner "Crash."

Empire Kim Newman

As a thriller it's solid three-star tension. As a Samuel L. Jackson showcase it proves a man can only coast through so many motherfuckin' or milquetoastin' turns before having to display his full and overpowering talent.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A conventional suspense thriller, but the details kick it up a notch.

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

A pretty provocative film, that is until it implodes into standard formulaic Hollywood crap.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Here's a vote of gratitude for Samuel L. Jackson, who has become a specialist in making mediocre movies far more entertaining than they should be.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Lakeview Terrace holds your interest, though the bad faith on all sides makes it something of an endurance test.

Variety Dennis Harvey

Delivers fairly tense and engrossing drama before succumbing to thriller convention.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

It's a shame, then, that the later stages of Lakeview Terrace should overheat and spill into silliness. The plot is compromised, not resolved, by the pulling of a gun.

Village Voice Scott Foundas

Like a lot of better genre fare, Lakeview Terrace uses its predictable premise to mount a stealth attack on the audience's sensibilities.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

In pandering to Hollywood standards about how stories like this should unfold, LaBute has lost his edge.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

One wishes LaBute, a bleak satirist and, at his best, a crudely compelling dramatist, had taken the script and made it his own sort of twisted comedy instead of a routine thriller

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Lakeview Terrace's pretense at exploring racial intolerance has been exposed for what it really is: a B-movie copout.

Los Angeles Times Robert Abele

Jackson modulates Abel's internal turmoil and heated exchanges with enough shades of loneliness, steely generosity and wicked playfulness to give the actor firm control of our fascination and growing unease.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Anyone who has ever had an annoying neighbor will see their worst nightmares fulfilled in the overheated but entertaining Lakeview Terrace.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The main problem with this treatise on racial politics undercover as an exercise in suspense is that the director, Neil LaBute, didn't write the script.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Tediously predictable thriller.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A passable piece of hackwork, with some adequately suspenseful passages and a few mild shocks near the end. But the psychological dimensions of the story are so risible, and its supposed insights into race and class so wrongheaded and ugly, that irritation trumps enjoyment.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Grabs a fistful of hot-button story elements -- race, sex, politics -- and promptly mixes them into the thriller equivalent of tapioca.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

When a film has to blare its racially and incendiary stance as obviously as Lakeview Terrace, you know it's trying too hard.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Ultimately, Lakeview Terrace isn't about race so much as it's about being a man, which has been LaBute's fallback theme from the start.

Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling

Jackson is the best thing here.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

Boilerplate stuff through and through.

The Hollywood Reporter Sura Wood

The film, absent a sense of place and populated by repellent or weak characters, soon devolves into an increasingly foul litany of events.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

The same boring routine gets played out again.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Starts out mixing social burlesques and melodrama and ends up one more failed thriller about men behaving badly - and stupidly.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The movie might have something to say about black racism, but the conversations go nowhere, and the cliches of the genre take over.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The whole thing is so listless and mechanical, watching it is a curiously dispiriting experience. You start hoping someone whips out a bear suit.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Joyless and airless suspense thriller.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it a7:
From out of the mouths of puppets, no truer words about race have ever been expressed in the popular arena than in the song "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist"(from the Tony Award-winning musical "Avenue Q), when Princeton and Kate Monster sing in tandem, "Look around you and you will find/No one's really color blind/Maybe it's a fact/We all should face/Everyone makes judgments/Based on race." In spite of its zombie-like commitment to genre conventions, "Lakeside Terrace" manages to illuminate the little documented fact about middle-class black racism with enough provocative elan to rupture the film's commercial surface. Set in Riverdale County, an area prone to brush fires, the filmmaker suggests that "Lakeside Terrace" could climax by metaphorical means(instead of "Crash", the movie could be dubbed "Burn"), instead of resolving the conflict between neighbors with prosaic expediency; a gun. But Abel Turner(Samuel L. Jackson) wasn't always a racist; he used to be just a little bit racist, like Lisa's dad, who accepts Chris(Patrick Wilson) for his daughter's sake. Since Harold(Ron Glass) never comes to his daughter's defense by having a few words with Abel, however, he is, in essence, complicit in the LAPD cop's harassing techniques; in particular, the floodlights that he shines into the interracial couple's bedroom. "Lakeside Terrace" gets to the root of racism by politicizing the sexual congress between men and women from disparate ethnological backgrounds. The floodlights make their love look like a crime. This seemingly routine thriller is smart about bringing racial taboos to the surface, even when the narrative itself degenerates into imbecility. When Chris thanks Abel, after the police officer comes to his wife's defense, his naivety strains the credibility of the film. After all, this is a man who waved a power-saw in his direction. But in a previous scene, Lisa(Kerry Washington) tells her husband, "Don't be nice because he's black," before he ventures off to speak with Abel about the bright lights. In this context, Chris' behavior looks less like naivety, and more like condescesion. He cuts Abel some slack because of his race. Now even Chris seems a little bit racist, too.

JA H. gave it a10:
Saw the matinée with a buddy and it was a ride. I love Sam the man Jackson. I had a neighbor like this and people do crazy stuff to protect themselves.

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Lakeview Terrace Screen Gems (Sony)

Lakeview Terrace
Screen Gems (Sony)