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"Not Quite Jimmy
Stewart & Grace
Kelly..." |
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Directed by D.J. Caruso
- Written by Christopher
Landon & Carl Ellsworth
Cast: Shia LaBeouf,
Carrie-Anne Moss, David
Morse, Sarah Roemer,
Elyse Mirto
Distributed by
Dreamworks -
2007 - 104m - Rated PG13 |
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If you have any knowledge of film history, you certainly watched the
trailer for “Disturbia” and thought “Hey! Wait a minute! They’re
blatantly ripping off ‘Rear Window! The bastards!’” |
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Well, I’m here to
whole-heartedly recommend this film, but I won’t lie. This is a
rip-off of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.” Not inspired by…ripped
off, beat by beat, moment by moment. The script is pretty lousy,
doing absolutely nothing new with the premise, except, instead of a
middle-aged man with a broken leg, our hero is a teenager, who,
still reeling from the death of his father, lashes out at his
Spanish teacher and is sentenced to three months of house arrest. An
ankle bracelet keeps track of his every movement and leaving the
house or the front yard results in the authorities being called down
on him.
Kale (Shia LaBeouf) attempts to stave off boredom by spying on his
neighbors. Just like in “Rear Window.” He thinks that his neighbor
has murdered someone, but no one will believe him. Just like in
“Rear Window.” Unable to leave the house, he gets his friends to do
the dirty work for him. Geez, just like in “Rear Window.”
If this is coming off as pretentious, film snobbery, then good,
that’s the point. You. Don’t. Mess. With. The. Classics.
That said, “Disturbia” still manages to be a surprisingly wild ride.
Forget for a moment that the script is a carbon copy of another and
take a look at what is worth watching. LaBeouf, whom I have never
given a second thought toward, shows some tremendous range as the
lead, avoiding the usual trap of playing a teenager: being as
annoying as possible. LaBeouf is not only one of the more realistic
teens I’ve seen on the screen, he is one of the most likable. Gone
is the child I last saw in “Holes.” He is now an actor to watch
(although this cred may vanish with his leading role in the
upcoming, sure-to-be crapfest, “Transformers”).
LaBeouf is backed up be David Morse (typecast, but still effective,
as the creepy neighbor who may be a killer), Carrie-Ann Moss (still
living in the shadow of “The Matrix” as LaBeouf’s mother), Sarah
Roemer (as the love interest and butt/cleavage supplier) and Aaron
Yoo (fulfilling a lot of stereotypes as the wacky Asian friend).
“Disturbia” is directed by DJ Caruso, whose “meh” career up to this
point allowed me to be completely surprised as to exactly how tense
this movie is. This is why I’m throwing the script out and saying
that you should check this one out. Caruso keeps things creepy and
funny throughout, building things pretty slowly until-
WHAM!
One of the most terrifying, stomach-in-your-throat, white knuckled
climaxes I have ever seen inside of a PG-13 film. My palms hurt from
gripping my armrests so hard. I know it’s a cliché, but the last
twenty minutes of “Disturbia” are absolutely harrowing, taking you
to the edge of your seat and beyond.
So, if you have some cash to drop and time to kill this weekend…
Go rent “Rear Window.”
Then see “Disturbia.” |
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© Written by Jacob Hall -
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