PARANOIA, PARANOIA, EVERYBODY'S COMING TO GET ME...

By Dave Paniagua

Cast: Jeff Bridges (Michael Faraday), Tim Robbins (Oliver Lang), Joan Cusack (Sheryl Lang), Hope Davis (Brooke Wolfe)

General Plot: Michael Faraday is a college professor in Washington D.C. specializing in terrorism. Now a single dad with three kids, he has every reason to be jumpy after his wife was killed by terrorists. But when Oliver Lang movies onto his street, the seemingly all-American, next door neighbor could be one of the deadliest terrorists in United States history. Overall Rating: 9 out of 10

Paranoia and the variable nature of your neighbors are the underlying theme to Arlington Road, a film starring Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins. While advertising and trailers for the movie give us a perception of a straight-out action thriller, don't be fooled by what it really delivers. After the long wait of seven months (original release date was January 15), the first ever thinking man's movie for the summer has arrived. You'd think that someone would have had the courage to make Arlington Road a long time ago, but people in Hollywood were probably too busy ripping off the concepts for Speed.

The opening scene of a child walking down the street is innocent enough, until the close-up reveals the horror of a bloody wound. Michael Faraday (Bridges) is driving home from his teaching job, when he finds the young boy and rushes him to a hospital. What Faraday finds out later is that the injured kid lived across the street. He ends up making friends with the Lang couple (Robbins and Joan Cusack), as well as Faraday's son with the rest of the children.

After finding suspicious mail for Oliver Lang, questions beging to arise from the man who once was married to a federal agent. Michael Faraday is still upset over her death, at the hands of a botched raid simlar to Ruby Ridge. There are also references to Oklahoma City and reasons for terrorism, each giving the movie a step further into dangerous consequences.

To give away the rest of the plot would be a downer. Arlington Road must be viewed entirely without spoilers to be taken aback at its original take on terrorism, paranoia, and just about everything that we never suspected about neighborhood folk. Just exactly are these kind of people? The Lang Family is very creepy, but are they really a bunch of terrorists or the delusions of a professor on terrorism? The aspect that it might be all a dream comes into focus, but director Mark Pellington and screenwrtier Ehren Kruger (who is also doing Scream 3) know better than to take the easy road.

This is definitely non-Hollywood fare. Our hero is complicated and eventually gets into fights with just about every character in the story. That is the only real downside to the movie, with arguments coming from all sides. And will Faraday find out if his neighbors are really the typical all-Americans? The answer to this question will come in the most haunting performances captured in this genre. Especially moving is Robbins as Oliver Lang. You don't really know his motivations until they might be too late for Faraday to realize.

Visit David's webpage at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Cinema/4069/