Arlington Road
Review by Jessica Brandt
Summary: Heavy-breather Jeff Bridges lives in a nice, affluent
Washington DC suburban neighborhood with his son and grad-student
girlfriend. He saves the life of a neighbor kid, and is so disturbed that
he doesn't know the kid's name, that he makes it a point to get to know his
new neighbors (Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack). While his neighbors appear to
be just like him, white, middle-class Americans with 2.5 kids, he an
architect and she a housewife...they are really terrorists. And to further
add to Bridges' destruction, he just happens to be a professor at George
Washington University, and teaches a class on terrorism, and his
wife was on duty with the FBI when she was killed by suspected terrorists!
Hot damn!
Comments: While I wasn't sure if I'd like this movie, I'd heard
enough good things about it to give it a try. Working at a movie theater
has its perks. Not only do I get free tickets, but I also get instant
reviews on opening night.
The writing in this movie is brilliant. Writer Ehren Kruger set up enough
plot twists throught the whole film to keep you at the edge of your seat
all the way through, until the final moments when everything comes together
and all the moviegoers can let out their collective breath.
Casting was brilliant as well, if not just for the part of the terrorist
neighbors. Jeff Bridges I can live without, as he is indeed a heavy
breather and doesn't have the most pleasant face to stare at on such a
large screen. But Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack are absolutely perfect
in their roles. Both are cute and un-assuming, yet have some sort of spooky
and evil undertones to their ways. Seeing Robbins, wearing a cardigan and
loafers, beat the crap out of Bridges as he sits in a lawnchair in his yard
was definitely the highlight of the movie for me.
As I said, the plot twists and turns, and the movie never gets boring. It
also leaves you thinking "Wow, even my neighbors could be
terrorists." It also leaves you thinking about the media and its portrayal
of terrorists and the assumed reasons for bombings.
I'd like to tell you more about this movie, but I'd have to kill you.
Rating:
 
(Out of five)
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