Arlington Road (1999)

Due to the high marks that Arlington Road received from fellow TFM'ers, I felt obligated to sit down and watch it. I was sorely disappointed. The overall idea was good, but the plot development was flawed and the casting was questionable, rendering a potentially great movie little more than average.

Jeff Bridges plays Michael Faraday, a college professor whose wife was killed in the line of duty as an FBI agent. Her death motivates him to study American terrorists and extremist groups. Naturally conspiratorial, Faraday begins to develop suspicions about his new neighbors the Langs, played by Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack. As Faraday digs deeper, he discovers his neighbors are not who they appear to be. Convinced that they have something planned, he continues to investigate the Langs and their past, discovering ties with some of the terrorists he has studied. The movie climaxes as Faraday desperately attempts to expose his neighbors and their secret life.

Perhaps it's my own fault, but I couldn't look at Jeff Bridges without thinking of "The Dude" in "The Big Lebowski". I felt that he gave a whining, unstable quality to the character that didn't fit with the plot. The movie would have been better had he been more rational and professorial in the role. My biggest complaint is that too much is left unexplained. A movie with radical and shocking plot twists must strike a delicate balance between giving adequate explanation in order to be believable, and leaving enough to the imagination to maintain the surprise element. Arlington Road failed to explain enough. I had too many basic questions of believability at the end of the movie to be satisfied. It was worth watching, but not worth the accolades some irrationally exuberant TFM'ers have given it. My rating 5.5/10.