Sometimes silly, but still quite watchable

Rating: 7/10 (18 May 2007)

Any movie with Shia LeBeouf is subject to some squirming. Let's face it, he helped the Evil Empire (Disney for the uninitiated) grow thanks to his successful show Even Stevens. But as Shia has gotten away from Disney, his range continues to get better. Granted, Disturbia and Transformers are not Shakespeare, but it is far better than farcical garbage like The Greatest Game Ever Played.
Anyway, Shia plays Kale, a pretty chippy kid who slugs his teacher after due to a crack the creep makes about his dead father (which he had a hand in). first of all, I will say this: the teacher deserves it, even if Kale was being an idiot and a jackass. Anyway, this puts Kale under house arrest and he has to spend all day with his hot mom Carrie-Ann Moss. Of course, this all leads into the eventual "Rear Window" plot line that was pushed in the trailers, but it is still pretty satisfying.
Kale's paranoia is pretty interesting to see, considering he seems to have no qualms about jumping the gun. This leads to one of my eventual pet peeves about this film. Why in the world would this guy get any chick? Here's the formula: being a peeping tom and ruining a girl's party will get you some head. Nice equation there guys.
I have always liked David Morse, and his creepy, swarmy antagonist certainly brought some cool moments within the film. Its good to see him playing a bad guy again, which suits him so well because of his charm and rugged good looks. Either way, a spot on choice for the bad guy.
Other than that, there was really nothing that stood out about this film. I give it a seven for the effort and making a film that didn't utterly bore me to death while throwing in a little humor to boot. Good stuff for a midnight-type showing.