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It
falls off the tracks about half way through
and never manages to regain control.
I was excited to see an entertaining
neighborly conflict based on racial
tensions... the previews looked very
promising. Oh, how wrong I was.
"Lakeview Terrace"
begins by building palpable tension as a
newly married interracial couple move into
an affluent area somewhere in Los Angeles.
The only problem seems to be the cop next
door, who immediately flinches at the
couple's racial make up for reasons we find
out later in the movie.
The first half of
the film manages to create chills despite a
few clichéd scenes and an overly typical
Samuel L. Jackson performance as the angry
black man. I mean, how many times is
he going to play this character in a movie?
He is more one dimensional than Tommy Lee
Jones in the 90's.
Later in the film,
the plausibility alarm bells start to
reverberate as the conflict becomes more and
more ludicrous. I can't count the
number of times that I unintentionally
laughed along with the rest of the audience.
So much of the final third is just plain
silly.
"Lakeview Terrace"
fails on virtually every level. It is
barely worth a rental. Perhaps it
would be best to wait for a late night cable
appearance when Letterman is showing a
repeat.
©
Written by TC Candler
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