With a different script the movie could have been a winner

Rating: 3/10 (13 April 2007)

(My Synopsis) Kale (Shia LaBeouf) was driving back home with his father after a fishing trip, and then all of sudden he is involved in an accident when he crashes into a parked car which results in losing his father. After his father's death, Kale becomes withdrawn and suffers from depression. His rage in the classroom causes him to be sentenced to 3-months of home arrest. An ankle bracelet is put on Kale's leg to keep track of him. He must stay within 100-feet of the house, or a signal is sent to the police that he has left and they arrive in minutes to arrest him. He would then be sent to a real prison to serve his time. Kale is bored with playing video games and watching cable, so he turns his attention to his neighbors. With some surveillance equipment from a friend, Kale begins to spy on all of his neighbor's movements and discovers what everyone is really doing in suburbia. Lucky for him, a beautiful girl named Ashley (Sarah Roemer) has just moved in next door. Since he is not allowed to leave the house and talk to Ashley, he must desire her from afar. With his cabin fever, Kale's imagination might get him into trouble when he begins to believe that his creepy neighbor Turner (David Morse) is a serial killer from Texas.
(My Comment) The story was supposed to be a suspenseful thriller, but for the first hour, it moves at a very slow pace. The movie was probably made for the teenage audience who are not as critical as I am. The writers did a terrible job of writing. They did not get the audience involved in the movie. If we knew for sure if Turner was a serial killer, the audience could feel afraid for our teenagers. But there were just too many holes in the plot, especially at the end. If Turner was such a mastermind serial killer that the Texas police didn't even have a description, he would have never behaved the way the writers wrote the ending. And the worst scene of the movie was when the police were alerted that Kale's alarm had gone off; the cop just ate is sandwich. The movie is not scary, even the last scenes will not scare you. With a different script the movie could have been better; I guess they wanted to keep it a PG-13 movie and not an R rating. (Paramount Pictures, Run time 1:44, Rated PG-13)(3/10)