LAKEVIEW TERRACE, a variation of the PACIFIC HEIGHTS neighbor harassment thriller, holds promise with Neil LaBute directing and Samuel L. Jackson starring.

The story concerns a young inter-racial couple, Chris and Lisa (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) moving into an affluent L.A. neighborhood.  But the LAPD cop, Abel Turner (Jackson) living next door objects to the inter-racial marriage with things reaching a boil when the couple frolic in the swimming pool under the eyes of his kids.

LaBute, director of critically acclaimed films like COMPANY OF MEN, NURSE BETTY (my personal favorite) and YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS, knows how to manipulate dramatic scenes.  The film works best when Chris and Lisa debate on her unexpected pregnancy or when Abel’s kids rebel against him.  It is only when the film moves into thriller territory that it runs into problems.  Unfortunately, when LaBute has got the audience worked up, the film sinks into killer and victim mode – with Abel out to kill the couple.  The flawed script never explains details of Chris and Lisa’s occupation.  For someone working in a supermarket, Chris can afford quite the expensive mansion.  Abel’s kids are also conveniently sent away so that he can stalk Chris and Lisa.  The metaphor of the raging L.A. fire in the background is as outrageous as the ending of the other LaBute action flick, THE WICKER MAN.

In the acting department, Wilson holds his own well against Jackson’s madman cop, bringing rationality to his otherwise underwritten role.  LAKEVIEW TERRACE is no boring film.  But it does not hold well together, narrative-wise or as a movie.  LAKEVIEW TERRACE would have succeeded better as a drama than as a thriller.  But then, it would fair better at the box-office as a thriller and it did making #1 at the box-office the first weekend.