The Lodger (2009)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

David Ondaatje

Writers (WGA):

David Ondaatje (screenplay)
Marie Belloc Lowndes (book)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Everyone Is Suspect

Plot:

A couple rents out a room to a mysterious young man, who may or may not be guilty of a series of grisly neighborhood murders.

Plot Keywords:

Lodger | Landlady | West Hollywood | Murder | Hollywood

Cast

Alfred Molina	...	Chandler Manning
Hope Davis	...	Ellen Bunting
Shane West	...	Street Wilkenson
Donal Logue	...	Bunting
Philip Baker Hall	...	Captain Smith
Rachael Leigh Cook	...	Amanda
Rebecca Pidgeon	...	Dr. Jessica Westmin
Simon Baker	...	Malcolm
François Chau	...	Sam
Mel Harris	...	Margaret
Michael O'Hagan	...	Bruce Lester
Roy Werner	...	Dr. Stevens
Ernie Grunwald	...	Gregor
Virginia Williams	...	Rachel Madison
David Storrs	...	Warehouse Attendant

MPAA:

Rated R for violent content, language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

Argentina:96 min (DVD version) | USA:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Australia:MA (2009) | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:16 | Ireland:15 | UK:15 | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

1420 N. Alta Vista Blvd., Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Merchant Pacific Corporation

Goofs:

Continuity: When Chandler and Street first meet Ellen, she sits at the table with her arms wide apart. In the next shot, they are close together.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Street Wilkenson: Detective.
Chandler Manning: Wilkenson, right?

Movie Connections:

References Blackmail (1929)

Soundtrack:

Marigold

Will keep your attention and guessing until the end

This I have to admit is a very B-movie. If it were not for the actors in it I wouldn't even call it a C-movie. However the storyline is very engaging. I wouldn't dare compare it to any other movie however and most of the critics have already slammed it because "Hitchcock's version was better" (although this movie has been made by several others as well).

The director has done a fairly good job with the budget he has and has made some very good decisions at least in casting the actors in their roles. The movie is mostly a "copycat" film, but the concepts are still the same. Obviously it is not possible to follow the storyline of "jack the ripper has left England and is now in the United States" as in the original Lodger story because it is now 2009, which in the end doesn't really help or hurt the film at all. It was also nice to see Rebecca Pidgeon in a film again although her character is mostly just thrown in to "tie" the ending together in a "Psycho-esque" kind of way. Donal Logue seems like the typical husband who doesn't SEEM to understand his wife, played by Hope Davis, who may or may not be imagining things. And finally Alfred Molina is basically cast as himself, stubborn, difficult, and determined.

Everyone is a suspect and Ondaatje does a very good job keeping the pace while switching seamlessly between the detectives investigating and the Bunting residence where "The Lodger" is. However, whether or not you feel "cheated" by the end of the film is up to you. I however was not very surprised by the modern day twists that are thrown at the audience in the end. Definitely worth seeing in the theater if you can.