Disturbingly careless rip-off of a film classic

Rating: 2/10 (21 August 2007)

D.J. Caruso's short attention span appears to be better suited for directing TV shows, or maybe commercials, rather than full length feature films. Disturbia, his latest effort, suffers from disjointed plotting, flimsy character development, and bad timing. Suspense, which is what this movie is supposed to be all about, is always interrupted by some unimportant tangent the director feels obliged to show us. As a result, we get little jolts of surprise instead of the throbbing sense of dread that echoes with an audience after a film ends.
As a teen fright film, Disturbia could achieve a respectable 6-out-of-10 score but it would need more blood and guts for a higher rating in that category. As quality entertainment for a mature audience, the movie fails in most ways. The inevitable comparisons to Hitchcock's Rear Window, absurd as they are, automatically raise the bar and show Caruso's creative limitations, lack of imagination, and complete inability to affect more savvy film buffs.
The silly, slurping dazed-and-confoozed Asian buddy, the teasey-cheezy girl next door, the continually absent and oblivious mother, the portrayal of cops as ignorant, and an experienced and treacherous killer who gets had by a teenager are the mundane hallmarks of Caruso's sophomoric re-creation of a film classic. Shame on him.