How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:150
Fresh:70
Rotten:80
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: This thriller about a menacing cop wreaking havoc on his neighbors is tense enough but threatens absurdity when it enters into excessive potboiler territory.
Theatrical Release:05-12-2008
Synopsis: A quick perusal of any of LAKEVIEW TERRACE's promotional materials--its nervy trailer, its foreboding (and painterly) dawn-hued poster featuring Samuel L. Jackson looking less-than-neighborly in... [More]
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington, Jay Hernandez
Director: Neil LaBute
As a thriller it’s solid three-star tension. As a Samuel L. Jackson showcase it proves a man can only coast through so many motherfuckin’ or milquetoastin’ turns before having to display his full and overpowering talent.
Top CriticThe yawning chasm between the film’s aspirations to social significance and its cheese-o-licious straight-to-video construction make it a chucklesome guilty pleasure.
Top CriticA potboiler with pretensions that's never really at the races.
Top CriticIt’s a terrifically unstable performance that is admirably matched by the exasperated victims. The ending is too allegorical for its own health, but this is intelligent cinema.
Top CriticFrom certain angles, Lakeview Terrace may look neurotic or even reactionary, but I found it bracingly tactless, particularly because interracial couples are still something of a taboo in modern Hollywood.
Top CriticYet despite the crudeness that finally overtakes Lakeview Terrace, it may be a more accurate representation of racial attitudes in Los Angeles than many inhabitants would care to admit.
Top CriticAfter multiplex clinkers like Jumper and Cleaner, Lakeview Terrace does give Jackson somewhere to move that actually brings the house down.
Lacking even a Changing Lanes level of insight into America’s racial partition, this old-school, domestic-invasion thriller still has Samuel L Jackson’s twisted enforcer to push the right buttons.
Watching this film is like stretching a spring and then letting it go again… and again… gripping and utterly absorbing.
Having an angry Samuel L Jackson as your nasty neighbour would be anybody's idea of bad news. Tense and terrifying, this is a smart thriller.
It’s uncomfortable viewing.
But this cop, played with wicked finesse by Jackson while the script allows, deserves the chance to strut his hour in the smoke-free sun.
Lakeside Terrace allows the antagonism to simmer just so, and then, regrettably, lets it boil over in a climax of gunplay and a swathe of Californian brush fires, perhaps the most crashingly symbolic conflagration since Apocalypse Now.
Happily, it’s not only a return to form for the one-time Mormon and agent provocateur, it also offers Samuel L Jackson his first decent part in years.
This straightforward crazed-madman thriller is trying to pass itself off as an insightful look at racial tension, but it's simply not strong enough to pull off the trick.
Treading into Unlawful Entry and Pacific Heights territory - where marital idylls are threatended by an outsider - LaBute's film is more about machismo than race.
Strong performances ensure that this remains watchable, but it pulls all its potential punches and ends up as a neutered version of the film it should have been.
While not enough of a straightforward thriller to attract widescale younger audiences, the film is still a very effective showcase for the cool menace that star Samuel L. Jackson can project.
Lakeview Terrace isn't anywhere as wacky as LaBute's Wicker Man remake, yet the two reveal an artist too caught up with his misanthropic conceits to notice the ridiculous humor in them.
This angry black man wants a 'chocolate drop' of his own -- yes, 'chocolate drop' is actually used in this film! However, it's such a weak movie that you won't get offended.
January 17, 2009:
Worst case scenario moviemaking, with interracial mating as the cinematic incendiary device of choice, along with Jackson's honed terror tactics that can make you shrivel with the slightest disapproving snarl. 
More...
January 13, 2009:
Interracial mating as the cinematic incendiary device of choice, and it's not white racists that are made to seethe about cross-racial romance, but oddly enough, black folks. Reality check, please.
More...
December 05, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: Writers Warm to Madagascar 2; UK Critics Liked Lakeview Terrace
With thirteen new releases in the UK cinemas this weekend, let Rotten Tomatoes help you sort the tinsel from the turkeys. We have animals on the loose in Madagascar: Escape 2... More...
October 20, 2008:
Sam Jackson Talks Lakeview Terrace: Taking The Tough Questions
More...
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
IGN.com |
GameSpy |
Comrade |
Arena |
FilePlanet |
GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox |
Planets |
Vaults |
VE3D |
CheatsCodesGuides |
GameStats |
GamerMetrics
AskMen.com |
Rotten Tomatoes |
Direct2Drive |
Green Pixels
IGN RSS Feeds
Comment
