Reviewers' grade: B
The season of Shia LeBeouf "? we'll see him again July 4 in "Transformers" "? begins with this surprisingly effective update of Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window." LeBeouf stars as a high school kid who is under house arrest for the summer.
Bored, he begins spying on his neighbors and is soon joined by comic relief pal Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) and way-too-hot-for-these-guys Ashley (Sarah Roemer). All is mildly sicko voyeuristic fun until they decide that Mr. Turner next door (David Morse) is a serial killer who is abducting young women.
Director D.J. Caruso ("Taking Lives") takes enough time to let us get to know these kids and see their good points before he imperils them and takes us along for the ride. From the dark, they watch the neighbors, and from the dark, we watch them. Hitchcock knew that watching a movie allowed us to sneak peeks into the private lives of others, and Caruso plays with that concept as well. PG-13
"?Doug Bentin
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