Greetings AICN, MiraJeff here with a look at "Disturbia," a movie I had high hopes for but ultimately felt a little let down by.

Although critics will be quick to claim Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" as the film "Disturbia" most tries to emulate, it's arguable that Joe Dante's "The 'burbs" is the heavier influence. D.J. Caruso's teen thriller may not be as darkly comic as that underrated Tom Hanks film but it gets almost as many laughs thanks to some fishy third act hijinx. To be fair, "Disturbia" is a nice little suspense yarn about a home-confined teenager named Kale (Shia LaBeouf) who suspects his neighbor (David Morse) is a serial killer. The familiar premise immediately invites comparisons to the 1954 Jimmy Stewart classic, but it'd be unfair to enter "Disturbia" with such lofty expectations. The truth is you should expect little more than a fun but contrived B-movie.

The film's first few minutes serve as time well spent with Kale and his father (the always-welcome Matt Craven) before the two fall victim to a tragic car crash that is eerily similar in its jarring introductory tone to the opening scene of "The Lookout." The father-son moment is surprisingly effective and goes a long way in showing us what kind of kid Kale was like before the accident and how the tragedy later affects him at home and in school, where Kale is failing Spanish. When his teacher rebukes him in front of the class, noting how disappointed Kale's father would be if he saw how his son's academic performance has suffered since the accident, Kale punches the professor's lights out and gets booked for assault. Of course, Kale narrowly avoids jail time because the judge takes pity on him, so Kale is sentenced to three months under house arrest, which will be monitored by an ankle bracelet that notifies the cops (including the teacher's hard-ass cousin) whenever he steps foot off his property, kind of like an electric dog collar for humans. It's really not too shabby a sentence considering the teacher's shiner, and although Kale has to miss out on fun summer activities like going to the beach and 4th of July BBQs, he does have a pretty comfortable life watching TV, downloading music and playing Xbox, a fact that does not go unnoticed by his mother, who promptly deactivates his iTunes account and cuts the TV cord (but not before news reports inform us of a serial killer stalking redheads in the area), leaving Kale with only a pair of binoculars with which to spy on the neighbors.

Cue the moving van and uninspired entrance of Ashley (Sarah Roemer), the gorgeous girl next door whose bedroom blinds are always open, presumably so screenwriters Carl "Red Eye" Ellsworth and Christopher B. "I co-wrote 'Another Day in Paradise' when I was freakin' 22!" Landon can steal an entire scene from "The Girl Next Door" and write an awkward meet-cute between Ashley, Peeping Kale and his horny buddy Ronnie (Aaron Yoo).

Shortly afterwards we meet Kale’s second most intriguing target, Robert Turner (Morse), a hulking loner with an eerily quiet demeanor. His dented blue car matches the description of the car mentioned in those spooky news reports, and he likes to play knife games with his red-haired dates. Coincidence? I (and everyone else in the theater) think not. Inevitably, Turner turns his attention to Kale's mother (a leather-free Carrie-Anne Moss), the naïve widow who tries but fails to be Kale's rock in his father's absence. Once Turner's romantic intentions are made clear, it becomes pretty easy to see where the story's going, and after two-thirds of a solid movie, Caruso stumbles at the finish line.

The main problem is the film’s disappointing third act, which descends into a bad slasher parody as it falls victim to genre hysterics. Not only does "the bad guy" morph into an unstoppable Michael Myers-type for no apparent reason, given that the police had no evidence of the killer’s homicidal activities except for a deer carcass (nothing freaky, just an accident) in a garage, but the screenwriters make the fatal mistake of putting the wrong character in jeopardy.

They spend the first two acts building the relationship between Kale and Ashley only to ultimately put Kale's mother in peril. First of all, the mother-son relationship is not nearly emotionally involving enough to resonate when she's eventually taken and tied up. Shouldn't the death of his father have brought them closer together, or like Kale's obsession with technology, does it just serve to isolate them further? What Caruso should've done is cast a lesser-known actress who could've faded into the background without the threat of reappearing, and focused exclusively on the three kids, sort of like a live-action "Monster House." The script's head-scratching misdirection seems to be a recurring problem with Ellsworth, as "Red Eye" also seemingly changed genres in its last reel, providing for a similarly lackluster ending.

The other significant problem is the whole "is he or isn't he?" question, which wears out its welcome early on, since the answer is so ridiculously unambiguous. As fully prepared as I was for the film to turn out to be all a dream, or a figment of Kale's active imagination, deep down I knew "Disturbia" would go exactly where it ends up. If it didn't, there: a) wouldn't be a movie, or, b) there'd be a cool movie with a lame-ass twist, which is exactly how LaBeouf described the original draft in his interview with Quint. It's a bit unclear, but Shia mentions an evil twin subplot that granted, would've been worse than the ending that's there now, but on the other hand, what’s there now isn't much better.

Although I was happy to see "Disturbia" plays things more straight-forward than the twists and turns I initially anticipated, I did expect a little more bang for my buck (although it was actually free), and I think Caruso did himself a huge disservice by revealing the killer's true nature too early. That singular decision nearly cripples the film, reducing the third act to a by-the-numbers thriller where "the bad guy" can snap a cop's neck with the twist of his wrist. Not to mention the fact that Caruso lets the characters all get off easy (this is PG-13 after all) and wraps things up much too quickly, especially considering how the rest of the film takes its time setting everything up.

As for the cast, aside from weak-link Moss, it's pretty solid. The thing about Moss is, she seems to be suffering from "too much, too soon" syndrome. Since The Matrix trilogy wrapped, she continues to play the same bland, hungry-for-love suburban housewife. Between "The Chumscrubber," "Mini's First Time" and this, it's like, we get it; she's a 40 year-old hottie with a 20 year-old's body. So what? She created such an iconic female action figure in the character of Trinity, it seems like she's not even interested in topping herself, or doing anything that requires her to actually emote. Here she just blandly mills about and screams on cue.

Skilled character actor Morse makes the most of an unusual front-and-center role, lending Turner the perfect combination of charm and creepiness. It's a shame then that the script ends up reducing his character to little more than the Bogeyman. There’s no real rhyme or reason as to “the killer’s” motive, or for that matter, why he goes from elusive serial killer to bumbling executioner. Check out "Down in the Valley" for proof of how powerful Morse can be when he has a complete script to work from.

Roemer brings a playful cuteness to her hapless romantic interest, which curiously sidelines her for the unsatisfying finale. She looks like a cross between Amy Smart and Ellen Pompeo and has a natural charisma that lights up the screen, exhibiting good chemistry with co-star LaBeouf, who is kind of an atypical leading man for this type of film. I expect to see more of her in the future. In movies, I mean. Yoo also scores points as the film's comic relief, who, at least to this critic, seemed like a sly nod to Corey Feldman's obnoxious neighbor in 'The 'burbs.'

Meanwhile, LaBeouf continues a string of impressive performances, effortlessly carrying the film on his slender shoulders, but even his formidable presence isn’t enough to elevate the poorly executed material. I really think he's a young acting force to be reckoned with. I have no doubt he’ll be a star out here for a while, and not because he had the good fortune to be cast in both "Transformers" and the new "Indiana Jones" sequel, but because the kid can genuinely act, having already showcased his abilities in last year's gritty and underseen gem "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" and his solid supporting turn as the comic relief in "Bobby," another film that got a bit of a bum rap. If “Disturbia” starred a teenybopper flavor-of-the-month, it really wouldn't be worth a minute of your time.

So what does the film have to actually offer? Particularly the setting and certain themes it explores along the way, including voyeurism and claustrophobia, the latter of which Ellsworth also deftly handled in the first two-thirds of "Red Eye." I loved how Kale's neighborhood is especially 'Spielburbian,' which is no surprise considering Spielberg served as one of the film's many producers and even helped fight the MPAA when it initially issued the film an 'R' rating. “Disturbia” also makes ample and clever use of technology, giving the low-fi thriller a high-tech feel. With the aid of Geoff Zanelli's moody score, which helps summon a prevalent atmosphere of fear and paranoia, Caruso delivers some particularly intense scenes, including a subtle but menacing warning Turner gives to Ashley that smacks of "Cape Fear," while another sequence filmed in a dark garage provides edge-of-your-seat entertainment.

Again, I feel like I might be coming down a little too hard on a movie I really enjoyed for its first two acts, but I feel like I have to go against the grain on this one and state my personal opinion that the film isn't all its been cracked up to be on this site, judging from the enthusiastic reviews from the big boys. The film had the chance to be something special but I feel like it failed to capitalize on the potential it exhibits early on, and in the end, is best left as a rental. If you're a fan of the genre or of LaBeouf's in general and have some spare time, it might be worth checking out, but most readers will find this one is more Netflix-appropriate. It's definitely worth seeing, but not one to rush out to, especially for those who haven't seen "Grindhouse" yet, and judging by last week's box office figures, there are still a lot of you in that jaw-dropping category. That'll do it for me, folks.

Feel free to email me at MiraJeff@aintitcool.com. I'll be back soon with reviews of Fracture and Hot Fuzz. 'Til next time, this is MiraJeff signing off…