In its second half, Lakeview Terrace runs out of steam, culminating in a flatly directed climax, complete with halos of police lights, whirling helicopters and declamatory dialogue.
Comment
09/19/08
Lakeview Terrace (2008)
47
%
Tomatometer
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.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Jan 29, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $39,263,506
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
Reviews for Lakeview Terrace
101 - 120 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
I find movies like this alive and provoking, and I'm exhilarated to have my thinking challenged at every step of the way.
09/19/08
Top Critic...conventional but compellingly caustic...LaBute's excitable exposition is passable enough to sustain the manufactured intrigue and tension
09/18/08
I don't care how over the top, melodramatic and contrived this movie is, it is entertaining.
09/18/08
Lakeview Terrace waves bye-bye much earlier on than it should and that's a shame because it would have been so nice to see such lofty reflections getting along in a thriller for mass consumption.
09/18/08
Very much another gleaming surface Hollywood entertainment, but LaBute has once again managed to find something squirming and icky -- and horrifyingly truthful -- inside.
09/18/08
by a wide margin, the director's weakest effort to date
09/18/08
Lakeview Terrace is obvious when you most want it to be stealth.
09/18/08
Slick, savvy and well executed, Lakeview Terrace is a typical studio release polished to a blinding sheen thanks to a superior cast and Neil LaBute, America's most dazzlingly gifted un-famous film director.
09/18/08
A tense and mostly satisfying take on race relations and the deep-seeded hatred some try to suppress, Lakeview Terrace realistically depicts such a heated scenario by giving equal voice to both sides.
09/18/08
Director Neil LaBute struggles mightily to turn a reliable B-movie premise (maniac cop goes too far) into a deep social commentary about race, or real estate, or something, but the result is an inexplicable mess.
09/18/08
When Lakeview Terrace concentrates on its characters, it's somewhat watchable. Unfortunately, this dramatic thriller is more determined to make a point -- repeatedly and pretty stridently -- rather than doing that.
09/18/08
Like a bad roller coaster. It sure is fun getting to the top, but everything else is a letdown and you walk away feeling a little ripped off.
09/18/08
It provokes just to provoke, and that's not just discomforting, it's reckless.
09/18/08
As social commentary, it doesn't go deeply enough, and as a psychological thriller, it peters out in silliness.
09/18/08
Top CriticNo matter how much the film wants to be an examination of race relations, it's really just a medium-grade potboiler, watchable but unmemorable.
09/18/08
A lurid finale and some late-game script weaknesses work to diminish a character that Jackson has worked hard to embellish.
09/18/08
By the time the film's frantic, far-fetched climax comes along, Lakeview Terrace's pretense at exploring racial intolerance has been exposed for what it really is: a B-movie copout.
09/18/08
When [director] LaBute pulls the grenade pin on racism and interracial relationships in Lakeview Terrace, viewers should know to duck and cover.
09/18/08
What begins as a button-pushing think piece concludes by pushing all the wrong buttons and losing sight of the bigger picture.
09/18/08
Latest News for Lakeview Terrace
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...
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