Arlington Road (1999)

61% of critics liked it
(87 reviews)
72% of users liked it
(41,241 ratings)

In this tense thriller, a man begins to suspect his neighbors are not what they appear to be -- and their secrets could be deadly. Michael Faraday (played by Jeff Bridges) is a college professor whose wife, an FBI agent, was killed in the line of duty by members of an extremist right-wing terrorist… More In this tense thriller, a man begins to suspect his neighbors are not what they appear to be -- and their secrets could be deadly. Michael Faraday (played by Jeff Bridges) is a college professor whose wife, an FBI agent, was killed in the line of duty by members of an extremist right-wing terrorist group, leaving him to raise their nine-year-old son by himself. One day, he saves the life of a boy he sees on the street. The child turns out to be the son of his new neighbors, Oliver and Cheryl Lang (Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack). Michael soon becomes friendly with the grateful Langs, who seem as cheerfully bland as anyone could hope from denizens of suburbia. But the better Michael gets to know Oliver, the more he becomes convinced that something isn't quite right; Oliver seems almost too clean and perfect, and Michael begins to notice that small details in Oliver's stories don't quite add up. The question is whether Michael's well-founded paranoia about the radical right is getting the better of him, or are the Langs up to something a lot more sinister than their cheerful smiles and manicured lawn would suggest? Ehren Kruger's screenplay for Arlington Road won the Motion Picture Academy's Nicholl Fellowship prize in 1996; the film was the second directorial effort for Mark Pellington, who debuted with Going All the Way. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 58 min.
Directed By: Mark Pellington
Written By: Ehren Kruger
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Jul 9, 1999 Wide
On DVD: Dec 11, 2001
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Susan Stark, Detroit News
The machinations and manipulations built into the story it spins are simply too obvious to be taken to heart.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Arlington Road is a movie trying so hard for intelligence, quality and deeper meanings, you can almost sense the strain under the celluloid.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
An engrossing thriller!
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The climax is so implausible we stop caring and start scratching our heads!
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
Scary movie about terrorism. Not for kids.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Stylish and unsettling.
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
Arlington Road is like more recent thrillers that ask us to suspend logic and just be swept up by the character's paranoia and suspicions.
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
Darker and more intimate than you expect.
Bill Clark, FromTheBalcony
A tight, well-rounded piece of suspense/thriller filmmaking with an electric performance by Bridges.
Jeffrey Overstreet, Looking Closer
It merely exploits our fears and emotions to jerk us around.
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Apesar da narrativa morna e nada sutil, o final do filme redime parte dos fracassos do projeto.

Read all 11 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Lady D

A great start to the film, grabs your attention from the off, it then plods along at a steady pace and then hits you right again at the end with an unexpected ending. An enjoyable performance by Jeff Bridges and overall an enjoyable Conspiracy/Political Thriller.
Candy R

Thriller about two neighbours. Jeff suspects Tim of being a terrorist. Good cast.
Film C

well its an alright thriller! it is clever and the ending was so unexpected that i love the originality of , as its not the obvious good guys win bad guys lose! but it does get a bit boring, there isnt enough action to keep me interested!
Lorenzo v

"Fear Thy Neighbor" A college professor begins to suspect that his neighbour is a terrorist. <center>REVIEW</center> Gripping,… More
"Fear Thy Neighbor" A college professor begins to suspect that his neighbour is a terrorist. <center>REVIEW</center> Gripping, fast-paced paranoia thriller stars Bridges as an edgy college professor and single father who lives in resentment over the fate of his late wife, a dedicated federal agent who died years earlier in a botched sting. Now he has the misfortune of trying to convince everyone that he's not paranoid when he begins to suspect that new neighbors Robbins and Cusack may be terrorists up to no good. Frantic thriller delivers great performances, believable plot twists, and an unexpectedly shocking finale. May not hold up if you ask a lot of questions, but by most standards it's fairly intense and entertaining. Cusack really stands out as an overly cheerful next door neighbor.
Wahida K

A great Thriller.
Anthony L

Grabs you from the get go, a great film with a very un-Hollywood ending which I doubt we will see again for a very long time to come post 9/11!
danny d

creepy and fascinating. suprise ending that is very unlike hollywood. disturbing but great movie
Stephen M

This is a bit like a cross between "The 'Burbs" and "The Parallax View", only not as good as either. There's the kernel of a decent movie here, but "Arlington Road" is completely ruined by ham-fisted, over-emphatic direction, predictability and… More
This is a bit like a cross between "The 'Burbs" and "The Parallax View", only not as good as either. There's the kernel of a decent movie here, but "Arlington Road" is completely ruined by ham-fisted, over-emphatic direction, predictability and coincidental plotting. The cleverness of the ending is cancelled out by its reliance on the uncertain manipulation of a patsy, a problem which "The Parallax View" tackled much more credibly. Also, Jeff Bridges' unhealthy interest in Tim Robbins is sparked by events so trivial that his character seems totally irrational, and it's difficult to sympathise with him. I'm generally a big fan of Jeff Bridges, but he plays every scene here on the verge of emotional collapse, and becomes unintentionally hilarious after a while.
Jason S

Good flick. The two main guys play off each other so well it's creepy. And the story goes in directions you won't see coming.
Dean M

Domestic terrorism rears its ugly head in this slick, cautionary thriller. The film provides plenty of nooks and crannies for conspiracy junkies to explore and gives a new deep chill to-the saying "there goes the neighbourhood." It pushes several social and political hot… More
Domestic terrorism rears its ugly head in this slick, cautionary thriller. The film provides plenty of nooks and crannies for conspiracy junkies to explore and gives a new deep chill to-the saying "there goes the neighbourhood." It pushes several social and political hot buttons on its way to a rather messy, incredulous ending.
Lafe F

A slightly unsettling tale where Jeff Bridges suspects his new neighbours (Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack) are terrorists. Joan Cusack is chilling. Things get wound up tight, and twisted places that I didn't expect, but it all fit.
Dean !

A low budget thriller with a big twist!
Aaron N

Ok movie, almost made up for by the pretty neat ending.
Jeremy S

This movie has such an amazing ending.
Nate Z

[font=Arial][color=darkred]Psychological thrillers are always much harder to pull off than the standard Hollywood action flicks. Bullets and explosions are replaced with taut mental games and psychological grips played with reluctant victims. Though harder to pull off, the spoils can… More
[font=Arial][color=darkred]Psychological thrillers are always much harder to pull off than the standard Hollywood action flicks. Bullets and explosions are replaced with taut mental games and psychological grips played with reluctant victims. Though harder to pull off, the spoils can be fruitful. "Arlington Road" tries to bridge the gap since the last great psychological movie (a little something called "Silence of the Lambs") and has lofty intentions. But its efforts fall short. [/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]The movie moves at a snail's pace and has the feel of a novel instead of a screenplay. Mark Pellington, the director most known for the Pearl Jam video "Jeremy," is completely wrong for this picture. His blurs, camera swirls, exaggerated close-ups and poor lighting makes you wonder if they forgot to take off the lens cap and seem entirely out of place. Scenes go on forever with no real connection to one other.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Sure, the movie has a boatload of stars. Tim Robbins wondrously pulls off the menacing feel that his creepy neighbor character needs to seem dangerous. Joan Cusack is the standout with her devilish take on suburban motherhood and her never-ending evil grin. But while the acting is good, the movie is devoid of suspense and tension for the most part.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#8b0000]The movie does pack suspense into the last ten minutes. The ending is haunting and will linger with you for some time after you exit the theater. But even a terrific ending doesn't make up for what the audience has been made to suffer through to get to that point.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]"Arlington Road" tries to reach for the sky with its idea that terror doesn't come from overseas, but from our own backyards. The idea is ripe with potential, but "Arlington Road" never lives up to it. I guess the public will have to wait for the next great psychological thriller. But "Arlington Road" gives me hope for what the future may bring.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#8b0000]Nate's Grade: C+[/color][/font]
Quinto W

I imagine back in 1999 it must have been a real shocker to suspect your neighbor was a terrorist when nowadays everyone is a suspect. Either way, this is a very watchable and entertaining thriller with great performances by the leads.
Erin C

I wasn't a fan of this movie. It was suspenseful and had lots going on, but the ending was one anyone could guess.
alan j

I have a sneaking suspicion that this movie was developed in reverse..allow me to explain....I believe the director/screenwriter had an ending..and given what the ending to the movie would be, then had the problem of constructing a story on how it could end up that way (ie the car in… More
I have a sneaking suspicion that this movie was developed in reverse..allow me to explain....I believe the director/screenwriter had an ending..and given what the ending to the movie would be, then had the problem of constructing a story on how it could end up that way (ie the car in the garage, the FBI friend, etc)...from that point, the film makers needed to construct a character who, while we could identify with...always seemed a bit Johny Come Lately...meaning always one step behind, making critical errors in judgmenet, etc..which would allow the Tim Robbins character to achieve his goal. Having said that, once you examine the plot developments closely, you would realize that not only would things have to fall into place exactly in order for the end result to occur, but all of the luck would have to be with the Robbins character..while adding a strong dose of coincidence as well. To actually believe this grand plan could actually be achieved the way the movie purports is well..unrealistic to put it kindly. Nothing goes according to plan on such a grand scale..but then again...this is just a movie. Having said that, the first half works wonderful as a paranoia thiller...however, once all the cards are shown, the movie loses its edge and turns more into a frantic chase to the finish..which is predictably shocking and depressing...this is a movie which could have been better if the role of Jeff Bridges was constructed differently. Overall, decent entertainment..leaves you thinking at the end..but please don't think too hard or you will realize the story is alot weaker than it appears.
Doctor S

'Arlington Road' Takes a Circuitous Route I had the rare experience of going into this movie with absolutely NO previous knowledge of anything about it. I had an afternoon to kill and saw the poster outside the theater. "Hey I like Jeff Bridges a lot, and Tim Robbins,… More
'Arlington Road' Takes a Circuitous Route I had the rare experience of going into this movie with absolutely NO previous knowledge of anything about it. I had an afternoon to kill and saw the poster outside the theater. "Hey I like Jeff Bridges a lot, and Tim Robbins, so why not?" I thought, rhyming all the while. Try it sometime, if you haven't. In this day & age of stolen 2nd-draft scripts posted to the internet and movie preview shows that give away most movie surprises - not to mention TV trailers that show all the best bits in 30 seconds, so when you actually see it onscreen you've already seen it before - I urge everyone to try and see a movie blind (er, so to speak.) Even critics receive press kits that attempt to spin what they are about to see. I mean consciously AVOID any information about a movie and go into it completely in the dark (again so to speak.) Obviously this experience had an impact on me, an exciting, refreshing experience where what I saw was in no way influenced by anything anyone had said, written, or advertised about it; in other words, my reaction was 100% my own. That was worth the ticket price alone. As for the actual movie, I enjoyed the intrigue and admittedly far-fetched plot, and the ending was quite shocking for a Hollywood film. Caught me completely by surprise. We're unlikely to see a similar outcome in another motion picture for some time in this post-9/11 sensitive world.
Lee K

a little dissapointing however half decent pic