I’ve now twice watched the trailer for Lakeview Terrace, a September flick about Samuel L. Jackson’s problems with a young couple that moves in next door, and apart from the major themes of discord there’s little to suggest it as the work of director Neil LaBute, whose career has taken a decidedly bizarre turn ever since 2003’s The Shape of Things. It feels more like a film for Gregory Hoblit (Fracture, Untraceable) or someone of that ilk, a respectable genre hand who has a touch of “thriller” experience. Maybe Harold Becker, if he’s still working. In short, it doesn’t seem like a work that allows for the imprint of much of a worldview, or sense of personality. Who knows, though — maybe that was part of the appeal for LaBute, after the commercial washout of The Wicker Man, abetted by Warner Bros.’ snuff publicity campaign.

On the plus side, I dig the matter-of-fact manner in which it presents the interracial marriage between Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, which is more than heavily implied as being at the core of Jackson’s problems with his new neighbors. That’s refreshing. Halfway through the film’s trailer it also plays the “color” card — as in blue, since Jackson’s character is a cop — which would seem to be a really effective second act twist played too soon (a la Ransom‘s ante-upping bounty), though there’s no evidence that the script is that intelligently withholding, since a few intercut scenes seem to show Jackson engaging in workplace shootouts and/or skull-cracking, which are probably an introduction to his character. I’ll be seeing the film fairly soon, and might revisit some of this in non-spoiler-ish fashion, we’ll see.