Loathe thy neighbor

The racially charged "Lakeview Terrace" should be exactly the kind of gritty suburban thriller tailor-made for the abrasive sensibilities of director/writer Neil LaBute.

The former Barrington resident has made offending sensitive viewers his favorite pastime with conscience-blanching, raging, anti-PC dramas such as "In the Company of Men" and "Your Friends & Neighbors."

"Lakeview Terrace," written by David Loughery and Howard Korder, combines pure racist hatred with the bad cop premise of "Unlawful Entry" and the psychotic neighbor plot of "Pacific Heights." Put that together with Samuel L. Jackson's sinister volatility and this film has the potential to punch more hot buttons than a TV remote.

That never quite happens.

The racist villain in "Lakeview Terrace," a strong-willed, highly disciplined control freak at the beginning, slowly unravels for reasons never fully comprehended, then goes off the deep, deep end in a conventionally violent, slightly dumb finale that completely violates our expectations of his character.

The trouble begins benignly enough when LAPD officer Abel Turner (Jackson) notices new neighbors moving in next door to his upscale home. He obviously assumes that the white guy unloading the truck for a black couple is a hired mover.

Nope. To his surprise, the white guy is Chris Mattson (Patrick Wilson), married to the beautiful Lisa (Kerry Washington). The older black man is her father, Harold Perreau (Ron Glass).

At first, Turner is civil to the young couple. But as the widowed dad to two impressionable daughters, the cop takes exception to Lisa and Chris making whoopee in the pool in full view of his kids. Then, Chris' bad habit of tossing cigarette butts on to Turner's immaculately maintained lawn pushes him just a little further, until the petty irritations finally bring his racist objections to their mixed marriage to the surface.

Jackson is one of handful of actors who can terrorize us with a grin. He gets superb dramatic mileage out of acting like a hand grenade with the pin pulled, and we're waiting anxiously for the explosion.

First, Turner does obnoxious neighbor stuff, like direct his bright security lights into Chris and Lisa's bedroom window at night. Turner slowly escalates his campaign of intimidation, until it becomes so ludicrous that not even Jackson's raw, powerful charisma can keep it believable. (Metaphor alert! As the story progresses, California wild fires are coming closer and closer to the subdivision!)

The LAPD's internal investigations has targeted Turner for being too violent on the job. No doubt, this pressure pushes him to extremes, but a man this old-fashioned and straight-laced (he won't let his older daughter wear suggestive outfits or makeup) is unlikely to flip out and host a stripper's party for a fellow officer.

Wilson, the star of "Little Children" and "Hard Candy," imbues Chris with an inoffensive blandness that cancels out his constant refrain to his miffed wife, "I'll take care of it!"

Washington, oozing with compassionate strength, makes much more of her victimized wife/neighbor role than the screenplay provides. Spunky, tough and sexy, Washington shines when she bonds with Turner's angry, rebellious teen daughter Celia (Regine Nehy) in a terrific scene that ultimately goes no where.

Perhaps if someone besides LaBute had made "Lakeview Terrace," our expectations would be low enough that this technically slick film would be appreciated as a diverting, conventional thriller.

But LaBute did make it, and by missing many opportunities to provoke us into thinking about race and justice, "Lakeview Terrace" has a reduced property value.

"Lakeview Terrace"

2 1/2 stars

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, Patrick Wilson

Directed by: Neil LaBute

Other: A Screen Gems release. Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations and language. 106 minutes.

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