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Disturbia

A Rear Window redux

By BRETT MICHEL | April 10, 2007

2.5 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Disturbia.

What happened to D.J. Caruso, the promising director who debuted with the little-seen The Salton Sea? Sure, his 2002 film shambled through its noirish paces, but its mournful saxophone riffs interwove into an atmospheric narrative fugue. This latest is a feature-length alt-rock-soundtrack shill that merges with violin strains that would make even Bernard Herrmann blanch. Caruso’s slide began with the predictable 2004 Angelina Jolie serial-killer sex thriller Taking Lives; the descent quickens with this Rear Window redux that lacks the good grace to acknowledge its source. (Story credit goes to Christopher B. Landon, if not a student of Hitchcock then certainly of Jayson Blair.) And just who anointed Shia LaBeouf America’s next leading man? The kid must have a great agent, as he’ll next be seen in Michael Bay’s CG-laden Transformers, but not even computer effects can transform him into Jimmy Stewart.

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