From 'Rear Window' To This? Now, That's 'Disturbing!'

Rating: 3/10 (9 August 2007)

This is a modern-day teen version of the 1954 classic "Rear Window." To show you how far down the tubes Hollywood has gone since then, instead of a grown, mature adult spotting a criminal across the way, we now have a snotty teenager under house arrest for slugging his high school Spanish teacher. And, we have the teen and his horny friend "Ronald" (Aaron Yoo) spying mainly on the new teen girl "Ashley" (Sarah Roemer) who has moved in across the street. The camera zooms in on her skin as frequently as possible.
In the process, the kid, "Kale" (Shia LeBeouf) hears reports on television about a missing girl and description of a vehicle last seen at her last whereabouts. Kale spots that car belong to another neighbor. He tells his buddy and then the girl, after she had come over to visit, and the "kids" now take this eavesdropping seriously.
Things get really tense when Kale spots the suspect, "Mr. Turner" (David Morse) stab a woman in his living room. It really gets carried away, story-wise, when more and more dramatic things occur and some stupid scenes like Kale and his buddy standing in front of a well-lit window spying. Come on! This script was believable for awhile but really starts to get stupid. I won't say anymore for fear of spoilers.
Frankly, I liked "Rear Window" much better, and I am not one of those older folks who always prefers the classics. No, usually the opposite. I also loved LeBeouf in "The Greatest Game Ever Played" where he plays the great (and nice kid, not like the one here) golfer "Francis Ouimet."