Search
What's Hot
Day-by-Day Fall Schedule
Your Dancing All-Stars Picks
Mary-Kate Olsen's New Beau
Shows We Lost This Year

Under Pressure

1996, Movie, R, 88 mins

Under Pressure: Review

starstarstarstar
Anyone who's ever argued with a neighbor over a parking space will get a few frissons out of this suburban nightmare. The Bravertons are a disorganized but loving family who live next door to a domestic control freak, Lyle Wilder (Charles Sheen). Having driven away his own family, this L.A. firefighter hero aims his bible-thumping rancor at his noisy neighbors. The white-picket-fence war of nerves escalates after little Zach Braverton (Noah Fleiss) breaks Lyle's window with a remote control airplane. Driven batty by insomnia, Lyle harangues Mrs. Braverton (Mare Winningham) about child-rearing. After slaying the Braverton's Asian-American repairman (Keone Long) and the two investigating policemen, Lyle invades the Braverton domicile where he uses Russian Roulette as a teaching tool. Cleverly pretending to be Lyle's ex-wife, Mrs. Braverton placates delusional Lyle long enough to grab his pistol and blow him away. Could a kernel of justifiable homicide rest in Lyle's mania? Sure, he indefensibly lets a woman fry in a burning crack den simply because he doesn't approve of her drug addiction, but those Braverton kids are unruly brats. With a modicum of style, director Craig Baxley might have seized on the Bravertons' irritating habits and satirized the downside of suburbia, where an unkempt lawn might incite a riot from the garden patrol. But director Craig R. Baxley is never able to strike a balance between mining thrills from Lyle's ranting behavior and sending up block-party bullying. Sheen's performance is no help: He neither lampoons nor humanizes Lyle's rage. (Where's Judd Nelson when you need him?) While break-ins from the psychopath next door are upsetting, it's equally scary that this flick holds up the smug, sloppy Bravertons as an all-American ideal. Martha Stewart would know just what to do with these people. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
Are You Watching?
Under Pressure
Loading ...
Advertisement

Our Partners

Advertisement

Related Websites

You might be also interested in the following websites:

Most Popular TV Shows

  1. American Idol
  2. NCIS
  3. Big Bang Theory
  4. Voice
  5. Person of Interest
more popular tv shows

Most Popular Celebrities

  1. Jessica Simpson
  2. Khloe Kardashian
  3. Kate Middleton
  4. Maria Menounos
  5. Kim Kardashian
more popular celebrities

Most Popular Movies

  1. Men In Black 3
  2. Avengers
  3. Battleship
  4. The Dictator
  5. Dark Shadows
more popular movies

Top Videos

  1. Celebrity
  2. Celebrity
  3. The Bachelorette
  4. Revenge
  5. America's Got Talent
more top videos