FEAR THY NEIGHBOR.
History professor Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges), an expert on terrorism, suddenly starts thinking that his neighbor (Tim Robbins) could be a terrorist. There are two things writer Ehren Kruger wants us to know – terrorism is closer to us than we think, and one needs to keep an open mind when investigating terror-related crimes. There are times when he and the director turn it into a predictable and overblown film, but it is nevertheless pretty exciting. Danger is effectively represented by an ambiguous Robbins, but the director should have tried to control Bridges’s over-the-top performance.
1999-U.S. 119 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Mark Pellington. Screenplay: Ehren Kruger. Cast: Jeff Bridges (Michael Faraday), Tim Robbins (Oliver Lang), Joan Cusack (Cheryl Lang), Hope Davis, Robert Gossett, Spencer Treat Clark.
