Movie Matters: Lakeview Terrace

The above trailer makes Lakeview Terrace look like nothing more than a slightly more serious installment of the old movie trope: frat house A pranks frat house B. Instead, it's a sharp character study about modern day racial tensions, the complexities of marriage, and self discovery.

Samuel Jackson puts in a solid performance as Able Turner, a widower cop who's trying to raise two kids. Tension mounts when bi-racial newlyweds Chris and Lisa Mattson, played with startling authenticity by Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, move in next door.

The primary conflict is between Chris and Able who are negative images of each other. Chris is a young liberal carefree optimistic Good (Whole Foods) exec who just wants us all to get along. Able is a conservative 28-year veteran of the Force who sees the world as a dangerous place that he must protect his kids from. These world views collide in interesting and explosive ways as the physical proximity of these two characters force them to interact with each other.

I highly recommend Lakeview Terrace because it exposes truths about the world we live in with a flare only Hollywood can deliver.