A couple of new films attempt to give you some B-movie excitement, but only one succeeds.
One of my favorite filmmakers is Alfred Hitchcock. Therefore, as "Disturbia," the latest teen-caught-in-a-pickle-by-a-psycho movie, rolled on, I realized that director D.J. Caruso was reworking Hitchcock's unique "Rear Window." The new film doesn't quite hit the bullseye, but I will state this: For what it is, it's an entertaining take on the voyeurism genre.
Shia LaBeouf, a very good young actor, is Kale, a typical teenager who encounters his personal demons after his father is killed in a car crash. He's traumatized to the point that he is compelled to settle a score with his high-school Spanish teacher -- a richly deserved bit of score-settling, I might add. Almost everyone is very understanding, so Kale is placed under court-ordered house arrest and is forced to wear an electronic ankle monitor while confined to his home. The 17-year-old can't go past his front lawn for three months -- which, to a teenager, is more like three years.
LaBeouf makes Kale entirely likable and believable. As he becomes bored with playing video games and downing junk food, he begins to find new ways to amuse himself, including spying on the rest of his pleasant suburban neighborhood. A new family moves in next door, and naturally there's a sexy teenage girl in the mix. Her name is Ashley, and she's played by Sarah Roemer. Ashley catches Kale spying on her, but instead of calling the cops, she becomes his friend -- which, of course, is nothing more than a vitally necessary plot device. Remember, in "Rear Window," Jimmy Stewart had Grace Kelly.
Things are fine and fun for the duo until they become suspicious of another neighbor, a hulking loner played by David Morse. Their suspicions play havoc with their junk food-addled minds, and soon they are convinced Morse is a murderer.
"Disturbia" delivers some humor amid its creepy crescendos, all the better to keep you on edge. And even though you have a pretty good idea of the next move even before the characters figure out what's going on (especially if you know your Hitchcock), the film manages to stay suspenseful.
Well acted and smartly directed, "Disturbia" is one of those movies that stays on message. Caruso fully understands his mission: make sure the audience enjoys itself as it nervously awaits what's coming around the corner.
One of my moviemaking rules is this: Don't spend too much time showing people using a computer on screen. It's fundamentally boring. Oh sure, computers can definitely be a solid part of the action. Can anyone who's seen the film ever really forget HAL in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"? And what about the nefarious behemoth in "Colossus: The Forbin Project"? An excellent movie. And folks playing with hard drives and monitors worked well in the light-hearted thriller "Sneakers." But by and large, mixing keyboards and characters is dreary. Well, when it comes to people typing away, the new failed thriller "Perfect Stranger" sets a new benchmark for dreary.
I'm serious when I let you know that for a huge chunk of its hour and 49-minute running rime, it's Instant Messaging that controls the screen. You actually sit in the theater and watch Halle Berry and Bruce Willis engage in seemingly endless online chats with each other.
Here's the gist of the shopworn plot. Berry plays a star journalist (is there any other kind in the movies?) who begins investigating a U.S. senator who is anti-gay, but hypocrite that he is, may be having sex with his male intern. Memo to Mark Foley: Somebody stole your life story.
Anyway, in a wacky plot twist, Berry becomes caught up in a mystery involving the death of a childhood friend. The killer may be a powerful advertising executive played by Willis. Berry needs to get the goods on him. She takes a job as a temp in his office -- yes, big plot hole here, but you've figured it out, right? Berry flirts with Willis, and the two also become chat-room pals. In order to have a third major character, who has to be the willing sidekick, Berry solicits the help of a colleague (Giovanni Ribisi) who knows his way around computers.
Why does Willis need to be trapped in a chat room? That's a legitimate question, and one the movie thinks it answers, but really doesn't. Where are the police? This is a bad thriller, so logic goes out the window along with the police. What about the gay senator? Come on, stay with me here. Logic. Window.
And here's a touch of lousy news. The movie is directed by James Foley, who briefly took some classes at the State University of New York at Buffalo in the early, heady 1970s, when campus film courses were a hot ticket and protests against the war in Vietnam were even hotter. I guess he didn't learn much. Oh, wait a minute, he did learn one thing: product placement. Throughout the caper, you'll see dozens of references to a famous mall-based underwear store, as well as to a popular brand of running shoes.
"Perfect Stranger" is stiff and silly, with surprisingly bad performances from the three leads, all of whom I usually like. The dialogue is laughable, but I've got to tell you this, the typing is really terrific.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 17 2007 |