Review – Arlington Road

Is terrorism expert Jeff Bridges being driven mad by the death of his wife and/or the class he teaches at George Washington University, or are his Cleaver-esque neighbors – Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack – really secretly part of a cabal of mad bombers? Although just about everyone in this movie has done quality work in the past, somehow this particular effort never quite manages to come together. The plot is at best mildly intriguing and at worst meandering and dumb. The sound is a particularly glaring example of the recent trend toward whispering half the dialogue and shrieking the other half amid over-wrought car chases and gun battles. Any film that involves extensive reference to both Washington D.C. and Kansas really has to work to get out of my good graces, but this one pulled it off. Mildly amusing