Published: April 27, 2007 01:04 pm         

‘Disturbia’ well worth a look

Four out of five stars



Kale is having a bad time. He misses his dead dad. He’s on house arrest. And the guy next door might be a serial killer.

Such is Kale’s life in “Disturbia,” a movie far better than the ads for it suggest. It’s smart, funny and unsettling, a thriller more interested in building suspense than spilling blood.

Kale (an excellent Shia LaBeouf) survives a traffic accident that kills his father. A year later, Kale is a good but troubled kid who’s made crummy choices, punching his Spanish teacher not the least of them. Not yet 18, he’s sentenced to house arrest and gets to wear one of those electronic-monitoring ankle bracelets made famous by Martha Stewart.

Bored and with aid of binoculars, Kale starts spying. Soon enough he knows which neighbors are cheating on their spouses and which minors are watching porn. He also makes friends — a little improbably but no less sweet — with the new girl in the neighborhood (Sarah Roemer).

Does young love bloom? Of course. Don’t be dense. But the teen romantics have a problem. The keeps-to-himself fellow on their block seems more and more like a nutcase with dark secrets.

“Disturbia” ratchets up the tension and frays nerves. Is Mr. Turner (David Morse) a multiple murderer? I’m not telling. But Morse is a pro at convincing the audience he’s either 1.) just shy, or 2.) not to be trusted with knives.

The movie takes its young characters seriously, a welcome turn for a film that could have been a genre hack job. “Disturbia” doesn’t treat Kale and his pals like they’re stupid because they’re not. Rebellious, awkward and a tad horny, yes. Dumb, never.

For a thriller, “Disturbia” doesn’t require much suspension of disbelief. It feels real and right. “Disturbia” has more than half a brain and a lot more heart, and that makes this film a nice surprise.

“Disturbia,” a DreamWorks release, is rated PG-13 for sequences of terror and violence, and some sensuality. Running time: 104 minutes.