DISTURBIA [2007] review

Continuing a Thursday night tradition of watching less serious movies, DISTURBIA was a worthy entry in this ongoing tradition, though not overwhelmingly so.  The ending was too over the top and way too gory for me, but before that, I was totally along for the ride.  This movie introduced me to Shia LaBeouf, who I have become a fan of since. 

DISTURBIA was also the first pairing of director D.J. Caruso with LaBeouf (who most recently made EAGLE EYE together).  It seemed like LaBeouf was receiving good direction and genuinely was having fun making this movie.  No doubt it helped to have smoking hot Sarah Roemer to spend pretty much every scene with.  

The appeal of LaBeouf as an actor is that he’s extremely likable and seems like a true teen, not some pretty boy acting like a teen.  Thus it takes a bit of suspension of disbelief to think such a character could attract someone like Roemer, but they have good chemistry together and the movie lets LaBeouf’s character win her over in a genuine way.

The gimmick of the movie is that LaBeouf is under house arrest and can’t go beyond the border’s of his yard because of a police ankle bracelet, which has been compared to Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW.  I doubt anyone in DISTURBIA’s target audience will pick up on that at all, and being a huge Hitchcock fan myself (my reviews of his films), I didn’t find them all that similar beyond the basic premise.  

With DISTURBIA, just be aware of the gore at the end, and you’ll be treated to a rare movie genre, the mature teen thriller.

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