"Rear Window" for the iPod generation

Rating: 6/10 (15 January 2008)

This story of a young man confined to the property boundaries of his house and taking to spying on his neighbors and suspecting one of them of foul play has obvious similarities with the Hitchock classic "Rear Window." However, this movie reminded me more of "WarGames" than "Rear Window," with Shia LaBeouf taking the role of Matthew Broderick and Sarah Roemer taking the role of Ally Sheedy. All four of those young actors are likable and attractive and the two males are hip to the technology of the time, which is a major element in both movies. But, whereas the future of the world hangs in the balance in "WarGames" and questions are raised about our dependence on our machines and their vulnerabilities, what we finally get in "Disturbia" is simply an overly-long and unbelievable cat and mouse game played between the bad guy and LaBeouf.
All of this is unfortunate since the first half of this movie is quite well done. The auto accident at the beginning is exceedingly realistic and unexpected and was for me the most disturbing thing in the film.
LaBeouf is presented as such a stereotypical upper-middle-class, tech-savvy adolescent that I wish there had been just one thing about him that did not conform to that image. For example, given how closely he was following the SUV ahead of him before the accident I think a case could have been made that he was responsible for his father's death and this potential aspect of his psychology was never examined. Having been confined to stay within the lot lines of his house and having had his mom disconnect his Xbox and TV, what was he doing for all those hours alone in his room when he was not spying on his neighbors? I wanted this guy to have some definable personality beyond being a likable young man.
It's odd that people who have things to hide don't seem to value curtains.
Not a bad movie, it just falters in its last act.