Lakeview Terrace – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Jan 26, 2009, 17:05 GMT

In Lakeview Terrace, a young couple (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) has just moved into their California dream home when they become the target of their next-door neighbor, who disapproves of their interracial relationship. A stern, single father, this tightly wound LAPD officer (Samuel L. Jackson) has appointed himself the watchdog of the neighborhood. His nightly foot patrols and overly watchful eyes bring comfort to some, but he becomes increasingly ...more

Welcome to the neighborhood.  When a young couple move into a nice neighborhood they might think that they’re extremely safe as their neighbor is a police officer.  What happens when the same officer disapproves of their moving in though?  Things can get a little rough.

Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) is a hardnosed cop that conducts his own neighborhood watches in the area where he lives.  This gives the residents a feeling of security.  He notices that a new couple is moving into the house next door. 

At first, he thinks that it’s an older black man with a young black wife.  However, he discovers that was the girl’s father Harold (Ron Glass) and that the white man unloading the U-Haul truck is really her husband. 

Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington) Mattson are the mixed race couple in question and are happy to finally be homeowners.  Turner treats the new couple rather gruffly and even more so when his kids witness the new couple christening their swimming pool with a little late night sexual aquatics. 

Turner is just as hardnosed raising his kids, since his wife died three years ago, as he is on the force.  Matters are not helped when Chris who has to sneak cigarettes starts dropping the butts in the neighborhood and Turner’s flood lights shine directly into their bedroom.  A fire is raging in the hills nearby and as the tension between Turner and the Mattson’s begins to heat up as well.  

Lakeview Terrace is a bit of a twist on the usual race relations type film because this time it’s the African American who has a problem with the white folks moving into his neighborhood.  Usually it’s the other way around. 

Samuel L. Jackson does a marvelous job as the “racist” in question.  It’s purely jealousy and a stressful job that drives the cop to become more of a criminal.  He doesn’t, in my opinion, play Turner as a viscous monster but more in shades of grey. 

Turner may actually have a good beef against the couple since their bedroom activities should be kept there and not on full display in the pool, but that really doesn’t give him the right to sabotage his neighbor’s affairs. 

He also seems to be driven to his bad behavior by a sense of jealousy in that his neighbor’s appear to have a good relationship and he’s just a lonely single father with doubts about his dead wife’s fidelity.  It’s difficult to actually completely feel sorry for Turner since he does some nasty stuff, but I appreciated what Jackson did with the character instead of the usual villain.

Turner should’ve left it all alone though as he gets caught up in his own web and will pay for his interference. 

Wilson and Washington also portray our couple well and even interject some real world tension between the two so they’re not just saintly protagonists being harassed by a moustache twirling villain.  A very well acted film. 

I do think that perhaps the ending could’ve been different as I really felt a tinge of sympathy for Turner and he might not have deserved what befalls him.  For all the film’s turns it does keep a pat ending.  

Lakeview Terrace is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features include a commentary by director Neil LaBute and Kerry Washington.  There are also 14 minutes of deleted scenes, with optional commentary from LaBute, and 20 minutes of making of featurettes. 

Samuel L. Jackson once again proves that he’s the man when it comes to acting, but adds some strangely sad tinges to his “villain.”  I ended up feeling some sympathy for his character, although he does some pretty terrible things, but I sure wouldn’t want such a nasty neighbor living next to me.  Lakeview Terrace is a neighborhood you may well want to visit for Jackson’s fine performance.  

Lakeview Terrace is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a March 30th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.