Lakeview Terrace (2008)

Directed by Neil LaBute, "Lakeview Terrace" gives a twist to the Neighbor From Hell Thriller plot: The couple is interracial (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) and the brooding psychopath next door is a racist black (Samuel L. Jackson) ... who happens to be an L.A. cop. The film is at its best in showing verbal tit-for-tats, especially between Wilson and Jackson, and then the couple themselves as cracks form in the marriage. The film stumbles as Jackson's hell-bent cop slogs through several on-the-job cliches (the crying thug is laughably bad), and all-out stumbles as a massive forest fire destroys the neighborhood during the gun-popping climax. Not remotely subtle. C+