The Good Neighbor

After a fairly lacklustre start, The Good Neighbour turns into an imaginative, tense and gripping film. A genre let's face it that has been done to death in recent years, I can think of so many similar films, but this one actually does a great job. The scenario is a little different, you get to see two sides of the story, it's more in the psychological drama genre, it's tense and suspenseful. It is very well acted, everyone plays their part well, it would have been easy to overact. The final showdown was good, but I wish they'd have made it a little more suspenseful, it was a little underdone. Overall I thought this was a very good film, very watchable. 7/10

James Caan could not save this dog, that tells you all you need to know. The stereotypical ADHD kid and the sullen repressed teen are so poorly acted I thought it was a comedy. Nothing new or inventive here. The plot had so many holes it was ridiculous. SPOILER: They lived across the street but did not know the neighbor (who had helped them in a time of need) had a wife dying of cancer that he loved. Why lock the basement at all? He fixes a small hole in the driveway immediately but not the screen door that has been broken for years. They invest in thousands of dollars in video equipment but no audio, and they must have bought cheap crap because it always went off line when they needed it the most. There was no suspense, no action, no interesting characters, and no drama. Tell the director and actors to keep their food industry jobs.

Really? This movie is a complete waste of time. The premise sounded interesting, but the plot leaves you utterly unsatisfied. The so-much-wished-and hoped-for twist, like e.g. the "good neighbor" himself turning into the prankster or something of the like, it never comes. Instead, we get a foreseeable plot, no real twists; boredom to the extreme, with endless pointless conversations between typical 2016 teenage boys; extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY unlikable lead characters, i.e. said boys; hours of utter stupidity: Main character carries a gun when entering the neighbor's house to fix a camera... I mean, really; most annoying of all: A movie that only for a very short amount of time takes advantage of the entire screen estate; mostly we see a small box with black stripes not only at top and bottom, no, but also left and right. OK, we get it, it's the image of a camera, but wouldn't the text on the screen suffice to explain that?! a fantastic James Caan, who does his best to save this wreck from sinking - albeit unsuccessfully. A real confirmation for my feeling that movies from around 2005 and later with high probability suck, despite the names on the cast lists.

I watched this today, being sucked in by the "name" of James Caan, whose storied career as an actor still means something to me. Look, I get it. Even Laurence Olivier did low-budget crap that was beneath him, and Polaroid commercials. He had another family, he needed the money. I know Mr. Caan didn't do this for the acting thrill. This was like falling off a log for him, doing very very little. Billed as a thriller, it barely has any tension. I believe one of the characters said it best, in so many words, when he began to object to what he and his friend were doing to the neighbor: "This is effed up". Yep.

I really like this movie because it's a kind of movie which makes me guess - not think- so much. It has the flash back scenes which kind of teasing because it partly gives me hints on what or who is doing what. I consider the movie not heavy, so you can enjoy the movie, while making lots of guesses along the way, and finally know what behind the story. Although it is not heavy, the movie makes me think, that we all we do to others might have great consequence(s) to them, because of their background that we do not know of. Just like it is said at the beginning. The movie got some surprising scene, enough to meet my expectation from thriller movies. But for you out there who's got high appetite for revenge, do not expect so much from this one. But then again, its not about getting even, its the story that makes this movie great.

*** Spoilers It's really too bad James Caan's talent was totally wasted in this movie. The main characters are so absolutely annoying. I watched this movie on Netflix, the caption was the kids spying on Caan would get a comeuppance but it never happened. I kept waiting and waiting and wanted to give up on this movie but was waiting for Caan to show these kids up but nothing. The ending was totally dissatisfying. This movie reminded me of the tragedy at Rutgers University where the gay college student killed himself and the kids responsible got a slap on the wrist. Perhaps this was what the writer(s) wanted but it was just very dissatisfying. These kids were murderers and got away with it.

This review contains SPOILERS but it doesn't matter because you shouldn't waste your time seeing this anyway, LOL. Just when you thought the found footage genre couldn't get lower, we get "The Good Neighbor"--a micro-budget film about an old man being stalked by his teenage neighbors who illegally spy on him with cameras and try to convince him that his house is haunted. The premise sounds okay, I suppose, but unfortunately this movie is so boring you'll wish it had more scenes of "The Good Neighbor" snoozing in his chair. Why is this crap called The Good Neighbor? It isn't about the old man being a good neighbor or a bad neighbor or any kind of neighbor at all. It's about some spoiled brats tormenting him with video surveillance and creating a fake haunting to create a documentary that, even if it was completed, would have been so illegal that they'd never be able to release it to anyone. What a plot. Why not call it "The Bad Neighbors"? Let's get straight to the chase. The acting is horrible. And I mean horrible, like first year acting school horrible. The writing is also horrible. These kids who live next door to this old man supposedly have all this technology to create the illusion that the old man's house is haunted, but they do nothing with it. Sure, a screen door slams (did they install a motor to it?), and the lights flicker, and the radio goes on and off, and, well, that's about it. Wouldn't this have been a gem if they took it to the limit and actually made furniture move around ala Poltergeist (as they suggested they could do) or even project holograms of ghosts or some other crazy stuff? Wouldn't that turn into something mind boggling? But no. Instead, they turn the heat off on the poor old man and shatter his window. Lucky he didn't die of pneumonia! Good job. James Caan is great here and that's why I'm giving this crap fest a two instead of a zero. Please don't tell me this is James Caan's "comeback role". He's 76 years old and has had a distinguished career and doesn't need any "comeback". Here he does his best Michael Caine impersonation and it's actually solid work. Too bad it is lost in this drivel of a film, that's not about him but rather about beer swigging teenagers who could use a good spanking. I'm just going to assume someone involved in this mess was James Caan's great grandson or something so that I don't keep wondering why he agreed to be part of this garbage. And the plot. Uggh. Apparently there's only one cop in this town because every time something happens, just this one cop shows up. And he's a stereotype. As is the Asian prosecuting attorney. As is the judge. As is the big crowd of people and media mob outside the courtroom after the trial, a trial that involves the death of some loner old man that nobody cared about before he died yet suddenly the entire world seems to be on the courtroom steps in support of him. LOL. As are the titles to the chapters as if this two penny film is as important as some big budget Quentin Tarantino epic. This movie might have been saved with some final surprise: like the corpse of the boy's father rising up through the old man's basement floor or something similar to the end of Friday the 13th or Carrie. But no. They were too lazy to even think up an ending. Instead we get a long shot of the snotty nosed little brat who orchestrated the entire thing standing on the court room steps as he's surrounded by a stereotypical mob consisting of, and I'm not kidding, someone from every ethnic background on the planet. I can't even go on, lol. I think you get the picture. Two stars. Probably the worst movie I've seen this year.

The Good Neighbor-480P

Heard some say that this movie is comparable with a much more applauded and successful film with a similar, home invasion plot. In deed, whoever saw Don't Breathe first and The Good Neighbor later on, will make that comparison, but never for praising the later as being superior to the first. At least, in my view, much of the disappointment comes from the anti-climatic resolve to the suspenseful, thought-provoking general pace of the movie. It grows in questions being unanswered and it makes it uncomfortable for the viewer to figure out what is happening with and around the main character, superbly played by a returning, old-fashioned character actor, like James Caan. He does make for this film not being a failure but not even him can make it shine above his own acting skills. Perhaps I got to hopeful with this movie, to pretentious, after seeing the before-mentioned fantastic thriller that got so deliberately close to a genuine crime-horror blend that makes it a clear nominee for instant cult classic status. Still, this movie lacks guts, plays it to safe, while the two boys are being just stupid and so are their roles. I got hopping that both would eventually wind up dead. Not the case, unfortunately. As it sums up, you are clearly let down by the unfolding, wanting more and being right about it. As for the morale, this movie was not the best vehicle for it, and it should receive greater attention and promotion in possible future installments of this otherwise very present and troublesome issue: teenagers,young adults and the potentially harmful things they do for fun.