Rockwell was ahead of his time: "Disturbia"

You know ... "I always feel like ... somebody's watching meeeeeee!!!" Great song. If by "great," you mean "crappy."

This movie from last year was yet another entry into the "I've got movie channels" sweepstakes. I remembered a few reviews that said it wasn't that bad, and it did turn out to be much better than I thought. And then, suddenly, it wasn't.

Our story opens with a rather unpleasant episode that explains why our hero -- Shia "For God's Sake, How Do People Come Up With These Names" LaBeouf -- is a punk. Although I didn't realize it at the time, Shia Pet comes off as a cross between Corey Feldman and David Schwimmer. Kind of eerie.

Anyway, he ends up under house arrest for the summer and eventually spies on various neighbors. Before long, though, something seemingly nefarious is afoot, and Sh-Sh-Sh-Shia must figure out how he can stop a bad man from doing more bad things.

If this sounds familiar, that's because it's the basic premise of "Rear Window." In that case, Jimmy Stewart was a photographer who was homebound with a broken leg, Grace Kelly is the hottie and Raymond Burr is the villain. (Or is he?) Here we've got some unknown (Sarah Roemer) as the babe -- and she is not hard to look at, fellas -- and David Morse as the sinister neighbor. David Morse! I love that guy. Throw in Carrie-Anne Moss -- whom I didn't recognize -- as the mom (that's why), and it's a party.

Actually, the house-arrest angle is a really good way of updating this idea, and "Disturbia" -- while having a crappy title -- does a good job showing how this yutz goes from his xBox/iTunes world to spying on the people next door. There's also some decent tension as to whether Morse is really a bad guy or not. Really, aside from some obligatory annoying teen stuff, the first hour or so of this movie isn't too bad.

Unfortunately, "Disturbia" is an hour and 45 minutes, and the filmmakers couldn't resist reverting to typical thriller/horror crap. I suppose I shouldn't "ruin" it for you, but I also can't believe anyone would be surprised by the ending after what started as a fairly interesting movie downgrades into the usual junk. Once you make that turn, it's hard to go back.

So yeah, I'm a little mixed. I guess since it's better than you might think, "Disturbia" is worth a look. Just make sure you're OK with a letdown in the end. Oh, and in case you didn't figure it out, here's a helpful tip from IMDB: "The title 'Disturbia' is a play on the words 'disturb' and 'suburbia.'" Really? You sure it's not "dis" and "turbia?"

Also, get a load of this bit of trivia: "During filming, David Morse did not speak to Shia LeBeouf or any of the other teens. LaBeouf said, 'When we finished filming, he was very friendly. But he's a method actor, and as long as we were shooting, he wouldn't say a word to us.'"

Yeah ... method acting. Or getting second billing to someone named "Shia LeBeouf."
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