An ominous cloud of smoke darkens the skyline behind the suburban homes of Abel Turner and the Mattson family. For both families, it's a sign of oncoming tragedy -- in more ways than one. Neil LaBute's "Lakeview Terrace" is a passable thriller with a contorted moral center. It goes where we expect it to, however, and I didn't follow. I'm always disappointed when a film that stays a step ahead of me coasts across the finish line. LaBute had a real meatball going here, but he didn't swing for the fences.
Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington are Chris and Lisa Mattson, a newlywed interracial couple who move into the suburbs of Los Angeles, particularly the quaint Lakeview Circle. Their new neighbor is Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson), a radical racist who disapproves of their matrimony.
The film is about racism. It takes a modern approach. It draws attention to today's racial stereotypes by defying them. Patrick Wilson, as the white husband, is the one who listens to rap music. We're accustomed to the white, conservative racists of the Deep South. What we get is a black policeman (Jackson) in Los Angeles. What do we notice about the film's defiance of these stereotypes? We notice that we expected said stereotypes. We notice that in many ways, we're a lot less guilty than Abel than we would care to admit.
Abel puts this couple through one morally impossible situation after another. He tempts them to exercise the same prejudices that he exercises, and then revels in the strained silence that follows. He wants no one to win. He is a conscious hypocrite.
"Lakeview Terrace" succeeds in drawing these issues to the foreground through the characters' words and subtle jabs at each other's pride. Conversations between Abel and the Mattsons are alive with a certain multi-angled complexity. Chris and Lisa are fighting desperately for Abel's respect, long after they've grown to hate him.
So if the film is so successful through dialogue and ideas, why resign itself to violence? I would say that LaBute was simply too frightened to go all the way with the premise. Courageous films are almost always destined to flop at the box office. Perhaps LaBute can use the money he makes from this cheap conclusion to finance the brave film he's capable of making.
Rollanschott@dailynebraskan.com
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