I’d seen the trailer for Lakeview Terrace four times before the film hit the multiplexes, so I was pretty clear what would happen. A young mixed-race couple (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) move into an exclusive Los Angeles suburb, where their neighbor is a commuting L.A. police officer (Samuel L. Jackson) who resents their presence. Because he didn’t approve of them, he starts doing little things to irritate them, such as running bright night lights, and cutting down the new trees they’ve put in along the property line. It soon becomes obvious that this cop is nuts, and that things will just get worse until the inevitable ending. That ending is about all that’s omitted from the trailer -- if you’ve seen it, you’ve more or less seen the film itself.

But as I walked into the theater, I thought, well, if nothing else, at least it will be a grand scenery-chewing turn from Samuel L. Jackson. But no, Jackson actually takes his role as a psycho seriously. And any hope I had that the film might explore the racism bubbling under the surface of the scenes shown in the preview were likewise dashed.

Following the unnecessary remake of The Wicker Man, this is the second huge disappointment from director Neil LaBute, who first grabbed our attention with In the Company of Men (1997), and then The Shape of Things (2003). But LaBute was directing his own scripts for those films, based on his stage plays; this one is by Howard Korder and David Loughery (the latter’s first screen credit in over a decade). LaBute directs capably enough, but he’s got nothing to work with here.

The cinematography is superb, the editing tight, and the acting competent, but there’s no real story here. If you want to see a racially charged movie starring Samuel L. Jackson, see A Time to Kill (1996) or Black Snake Moan (2006); if you want to see him chew the scenery, rent Snakes on a Plane (2006). As for Lakeview Terrace, stick with the trailer.

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