| DISTURBIA |
 2007 - USADirector: D.J. Caruso
- Reviewed by Linda
Kale (Shia LaBeouf) is a regular teen whose life is turned upside-down literally and figuratively in a car crash during a fishing trip with his dad. The cinematic crash that starts out the film is pretty horrific, and all I can say is "Thank goodness!" that they didn't show us what Kale saw as he gazed in horror at his father's mangled dead body. Needless to say, even a year later, Kale has some emotional issues to deal with and ends up punching a teacher at school. Next thing he knows, to avoid going to jail (he is just shy of being 18), he is given a Martha Stewart ankle bracelet and put under house arrest for three months. What does a housebound kid do for fun? Why, surf the internet, download iTunes, watch "Girls Gone Wild" on TV. But horror of horrors Kale's mom (Carrie-Anne Moss) decides to really punish him and cuts his cable and subscription for music downloads. Sigh. You'd think that he'd get a sensible hobby, like making models, or studying in his father's leftover library full of books, but no... Kale picks up dad's binoculars and begins spying on the neighbors. I've always thought that watching people in buildings around you is kind of like watching cable TV anyways, and Kale picks up on this immediately. There's the bratty kids that live on one side, who torment Kale, knowing that he can't leave the yard. There's the new family next door, with a hot teenage daughter named Ashley (Sarah Roemer) who, luckily, spends half her waking hours in a bikini. And there's the "keeps to himself" neighbor (David Morse) who suddenly seems to have stuff in common with a hunted serial killer suspect... you know, like having a blue Mustang with a dent in it, and inviting over club girls that freak out and run through the house. Hmmmm. Disturbia entertains on the strength of the appealing and kind of dorky Shia LaBeouf, as well as his sidekick pal Ronnie played by Aaron Yoo. Sarah Roemer's girl-next-door is an unmemorable non-entity, and Carrie-Anne Moss is sorely SORELY underused (in fact she is simply not around for about an hour shortly after being introduced). Shame about Moss, because any self-respecting director paying attention would use her as the lust object of the film instead of a hoochie-coochie neighbor girl. And David Morse (whom I remember being so nice in St. Elsewhere so many years ago) continues to hone his reborn career as The Creepy Guy in the movies. I won't say that Disturbia is smarter or more clever than the average teen flick, but it does have charm and momentum that keeps you entertained. You may see the ending coming from a mile away, and assume (correctly) that someone is going to make out over the closing credits (which is gratuitously tacked-on), but Disturbia is surprisingly not bad for a popcorn flick. DVD NOTESDVD extras include a commentary by Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer, and director D.J. Caruso, a stills gallery, and a music video of "Don't Make Me Wait" by This World Fair. There are also a handful of deleted scenes, oddly most of them featuring the sorely-underused Carrie-Anne Moss. (In fact, there's a cute moment in the making-of featurette where LaBeouf visibly starts preening when he talks about how cool it was to have Moss playing his mom.) There is also a pop-up triva feature that you can activate while watching the film, but unless you are that intrigued by things like how many times images of skulls were used in the background, it is not that captivating. |
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If you had to update and translate Rear Window for a 21st century teen audience, you could do a lot worse than Disturbia. Though not a re-watchable modern classic by any means, I was surprised to find myself pretty entertained, right down to the "ends with a kiss" required happy ending.
