"Lakeview Terrace" just might be the perfect guilty pleasure. It's got awkwardly presented social issues, barely established motives, beautiful homes in a ritzy southern California neighborhood, neighborly disputes on par with anything on "Desperate Housewives" and star presence supplied by Samuel L. Jackson.
And while it is sometimes an actual pleasure to watch, there will definitely be some guilt associated with it.
Abel Turner (Jackson) has issues — big ones.
Namely, he's not a fan of biracial couples, which poses a problem in several areas of his life. A cop with the Los Angeles Police Department, his prejudices cause him to be less than professional when dealing with citizens.
In "Lakeview Terrace," his feelings on racial equality pose the largest problems for his new neighbors, Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa Mattson (Kerry Washington). Chris is white, while Lisa is black.
Not cool with Turner, who wastes no time letting his new neighbors know that this neighborhood shares little with Mr. Rogers'. Behavior that starts out with awkward jokes and racial discussions quickly turns into felonious acts of criminal mischief. There's no proof that Turner is the culprit, but having a neighbor who's voiced his displeasure at having these neighbors gives us a pretty good guess as to who might be behind the tire slashings and air conditioner tamperings.
There's not a lot of mystery to the whole thing. That's fitting for "Lakeview," because it's not really a good movie. It's simply a mindlessly entertaining one — which is a rather awkward thing to say about a movie addressing such serious topics.
Racism, police corruption, crime and environmental issues (a wildfire is threatening the hills outside Los Angeles) is a lot for a movie to tackle in less than two hours, and "Lakeview Terrace" tries to graze past each topic rather than delve deeply into the issues — which is best because the film lacks the smarts to be a serious look into such matters.
Basically, this is an interracial, less adolescent version of last year's "Disturbia," where the next-door neighbors are up to no good, and it's up to the good ones to restore order. It's kind of fun to see how much of a pain in the rear neighbors could be.
Jackson, who has been average or even subpar in recent times, is better than average here. He plays the twisted, creepy older guy next door role well, and occasionally displays the fire and intensity he showed regularly in the "Pulp Fiction" days.
Other than Jackson, the rest of "Lakeview Terrace" — plot, actors, dialogue and its sweeping generalizations of people and situations — is better suited for the Sunday evening "Movie of the Week."
Despite the feelings of guilt that are sure to follow any pleasure derived from watching this movie, there are far less enjoyable ways to spend your time, many of which can be seen in my reviews from the past month of Hollywood releases.
Depending on who lives next door to you, spending an evening on the "Terrace" could quite possibly be preferable to hanging out with the neighbors.
Joel Sensenig is news editor of the Review Times.