Lakeview Terrace

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."

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.

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.

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

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

Boilerplate stuff through and through.

Joyless and airless suspense thriller.

Lakeview Terrace may have quite a few plot holes, but it will definitely keep you guessing. The ending may be a bit quick and questionable, but it is very suspenseful.

Mon voisin est un connard raciste et c’est aussi… un flic !… Brillante idée bien exploitée ici avec un Samuel Jackson qui incarne donc l’affreux voisin pas gentil, paranoïaque, raciste et très vindicatif avec un brio certain ! Patrick Wilson, un excellent acteur au demeurant qu’on ne voit hélas que trop peu impressionne également, comme bien souvent. On regrette néanmoins quelques longueurs, le film progresse en effet lentement, un peu trop lentement à mon goût mais distille une tension assez réaliste tout du long jusqu’au final évidemment un brin exagéré (c’est du classique dans le genre, certes mais tout de même !).

I think I remember initially liking this movie on release and its really not terrible, Samuel L. Jackson is scary good as Abel but a second half stumble leads to a movie with wasted potential to be good. Still, its not bad.

Here we are! Possibly, the worst Samuel L. Jackson movie ever. I can't imagine how a movie can be so racist and so incoherent as this one. The acting is solid but the characters are tasteless and the motivations leaves you insanely asking: WHAT THE F*CK IS ABEL TURNER'S PROBLEM ON INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE? WHY THE F*CK HE KEEPS TERRORIZING THAT MARRIAGE EVERY F*CKING TIME? WHY ABEL HAS A JOB AS POLICE OFFICER FOR F*CKING 28 YEARS? WHY IS CHRIS SUCH A P*SSY? WHY CHRIS AND LISA DO SEX ON THE SWIMMING POOL? WHY DOESN'T CHRIS TELLS TO ABEL LIKE THIS "HEY, F*CKING MORON. IF YOU DON'T STOP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING WITH NO F*CKING REASON, I'M GONNA KICK YOUR F*CKING ASS"? WHY IS CHRIS AFRAID OF HIM? WHY ARE THE SCREENWRITERS MAKING US INNERVATED INSTEAD OF AFRAID? AND FINALLY, HOW IN THE F*CKING GOODY HELL DOES A COP THINK HE CAN HAVE OVERABUNDANCE OF POWER LIKE THAT? Maybe I'm over-exaggerating but the thing is that the director wants to keep us update with the homophobic community we live nowadays but with this **** just doesn't work. The villain is always supposed to be a badass or at least decent. But, Samuel's character is such a pretentious **** He's always f*cking around and making scary faces. Jesus, everytime he was on screen, I just wanted to punch him in the f*cking face. It's not normal for a movie to have such idiocy provided by that moron! And Chris is a f*cking chicken. How many times I wanted to penetrate into the television just to tell him "Hey, you f*cking idiot. Be a man! Kick him in the fruits!"? I'm so nervous right now that I can't stop overusing the word "f*ck". This movie is responsible for that! Of course, there was some good things like the final act. The part when Chris uses the death of Abel's wife in order to piss him off must be my favorite parts of the movie. It gave me chills. Other things that stands out was Samuel L. Jackson's performance who I must admit, he did a good job with the role he was given. However, the movie ends in a way very disappointing. In conclusion, this movie is racist, painful, bland and completely stupid. On my part, this movie is an insult to my nervous system. Jesus, what a breakthrough!

This movie is incredibly stupid in Abel's motivations make no sense. He claims his kids are his number 1 priority and then goes to great lengths to kill the neighbors? Now they are fatherless! That makes no sense. And if Abel is this crazy about interrelationships do you really think he would have made it 28 years in the force being this dirty? The acting ****. Nothing actually happens in the movie but Samuel L Jackson making everyone involved uncomfortable, including the viewers.