Don't believe the IMDb rating, this isn't scorching or a thriller

Rating: 3/10 (11 January 2008)

I have to say, I've been liking a lot of Shia LaBeouf's work, and so the opportunity to see him in a leading role was appealing, as he did a good job in Transformers, so I saw this on IMDb, saw the rating it had, and thought it would be a good DVD to rent.
The premise of Disturbia is actually pretty fresh, a kid under house arrest for assaulting a school teacher due to repressed anger about his father's recent death who, with all the spare time on his hands, starts watching his neighbors to get a glimpse of what's happening on the outside world. He soon realizes however, that one of his neighbors late night antics may be more than they seem.
Sounds good as an idea right? I mean I can see a studio exec hearing that and thinking, yeah sounds good, a nice Friday night/date movie. However, as with all good ideas, they only work if they are executed well, and this is just a poor execution of premise and acting talent from beginning to end.
There are so many plot holes and down right stupid conveniences in this movie that it's just annoying. He has a sexy neighbor who moves in next door, whose bedroom just happens to be right opposite his. OK, but how come he can stand right at the window, with binoculars, with all of his lights on, and she can't see him looking at her? How come when he jumps the fence of his neighbors house for the first time to go and help his friend Ronnie, 3 police cars and 6 officers respond to his tag going off within seconds, but when he jumps it later on in the movie to save his mom from getting killed only 1 sole cop turns up, and only after having finished his burger and delaying his response? How come Shia manages to get the blueprints to his neighbors house online? Blueprints to everyone's houses are now available online? How come his murdering neighbor manages to build an entire, huge, 20ft by 20ft medical room in the middle of his house, with white tiled walls, medical operating tables and everything, yet no one seemed to question why a suburban household might need such a room, or why operating theater equipment was being delivered to a house address. Did he manage to build it himself? He could the murdering neighbor split his entire house in half (according to the free blueprints that were found online) and add a huge room and basement and hide it behind a concealed door all by himself? How come his basement is the size of a football field, yet his house isn't? How come his next door neighbor/now girlfriend can send him pictures messages from her phone that seem to go straight to Shia's computer screen? The list goes on and on.
Now sometimes, the conveniences are needed to help drive plot and story, so can be forgiven. But an incessant list of striking conveniences starts to really bug you, and is a sign of poor execution and laziness by both the writer and director.
A prime example of poor execution in the story telling is Carrie-Anne Moss in her role as the mother. She hardly appears in the movie, and when she does it's only to help conveniently move things on, she has no real purpose or character development at all, she pops into a scene to provide a convenient bit of tension or plot point, then disappears for about 30 mins, then suddenly appears again. What does she do, she's never at the house except when a convenient situation is needed. What is she, CIA? A hooker? What on earth does she do that seems to keep her out of the house 24/7? For example, the murdering neighbor, who hasn't been confirmed as a murdering neighbor yet, suddenly appears in Shia's kitchen, having been invited in by his mother (who has also suddenly appeared from nowhere). Clearly there is tension between Shia and the neighbor, who knows Shia has been watching him. Hmmmmm, how can they express that they know what each other is up to when mom is in the room? Oh yes, let's get mom out of the kitchen. How could we do that, what could happen to make her leave????? Oh yeah, she WENT AND LEFT MILK IN THE CAR! How convenient, because what happened was she'd just been shopping see, but the car got a flat tire, so the nice murdering neighbor who happened be there at the time her car got a flat tire helped her fix it, and then drove her all the way home from the grocery store, but then walked straight into her kitchen and left her to carry all the bags of shopping which is why he scared Shia by appearing in his house unannounced. I mean you can imagine them having this conversation on-set because it's just so poorly thought out that it could only have been come up with in a short space of time.
This movie is just mindless, they've put in no thought whatsoever. They have a unique premise, and then spoiled it with every conceivable cliché you could possible make about teenagers falling in love whilst solving a local murder. As long as the women wear skimpy clothes and the guys have cool gadgets, we're golden right? WRONG.
This is pap, I only give it a 3 rating because Shia is watchable, the rest of it is just a joke, about as tense as an episode of Saved by the Bell, but not as funny.