A neighbor from hell

It's odd that in "Lakeview Terrace," we don't see a lake. We certainly don't see a terrace with a view of a lake.

Instead we get Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson), a boorish, conservative police officer living in an upscale community in the hills of L.A.

Abel is a hard-working single parent who insists his son replace his Kobe jersey with a Shaquille O'Neal one, won't let his teenage daughter listen to her iPod at the kitchen table, and prays every morning before patrolling the mean streets.

But he chafes when an interracial yuppie couple, Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington), moves in next door.

Chris and Lisa, though, are too busy wallowing in new- homeowner bliss to notice they're in for a heckuva case of buyers' remorse.

At first it's Abel's cracks and comments: He chides Chris for listening to rap music ("When you wake up in the morning you'll still be white.") He soon makes it clear he doesn't approve of a mixed-race couple, and invites them to live elsewhere.

Early on, the film explores a variety of interesting issues, including middle-aged angst, the generation gap and red-state values vs. blue-state values. At one point, Abel ridicules his neighbors for being liberal, and his face-offs with Chris are even a little thoughtful if completely ignorant.

Where the film goes wrong is when it becomes an unwieldy mix of "Unlawful Entry" and "Falling Down," with an indignant Abel becoming a psycho stalker cop. This leads to a punchless obligatory finale that ends not where the story dictates, but because the audience needs to leave the theater.

The film's most interesting arc -- Abel's interactions with his children, and their fascination with the new neighbors -- is quickly scuttled so that Jackson can go full crazy, and they're not heard from again. It's jarring, and reeks of a hasty last-minute script rewrite.

Lakeview Terrace

In a word: Boorish

Rating: 2 and a half stars (out of five)

Rated: R.

Running time: 110 minutes.

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington.

Director: Neil LaBute