Stars: Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Corey Feldman, Bruce Dern, Courtney Gains

Director: Joe Dante

Summary: Ray Peterson's life revolves around his family and washing the car on a Sunday. But this all changes when the Klopeks move in next door. They're never seen and worse still is the noise which comes from the basement. Will the Close ever be safe again?

Set in an average neighbourhood that is anything but average, Tom Hanks portrays suburbanite Ray Peterson, who finally takes a much-needed week of vacation. However, Ray doesn't use the time to jet off to some exotic locale, there are no frolicsome adventures in his plans, all he wants is a week of mindless relaxation in his own comfortable suburban home. His wife Carol (Carrie Fisher) warns him that he's liable to go crazy from the boredom, but he refuses to listen. The nothingness finally does get to him, however, and he creates a little excitement for himself by spying on his neighbours - the Klopeks, a mysterious, oddball family that just moved in to a dilapidated home down the street. When the neighbourhood grouch mysteriously disappears, Ray and a motley crew of other local crackpots begin to concoct wild theories about the strange, and perhaps murderous, goings on in the Klopek's creepy, old house. For one brief, shining moment their lives seem to have some meaning and purpose as Ray and his friends become consumed with the secrets of the bizarre family. Tom Hanks is hysterical as Ray, bringing his own brand of boyish charm and zany slapstick comedy to the screen.

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Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks) would like nothing better than to spend a quiet week's vacation in his suburban home, drinking beer and watching TV. But, spurred on by his two friends' spinning of boyish paranoid fantasies about their reclusive neighbours, the Klopeks, the usually down-to-earth Ray begins to suspect his idyllic neighbourhood has been invaded by an evil force, to the point where he and his friends become psychotically nosey. You see where this is going, and you see it from a mile off. Only the general surface-thin plot is somewhat offset by director Joe Dante's fine sense of the absurd, and a host of engagingly played neighbor-types, namely Rick Ducommun as Ray's best friend who's always proposing bad ideas, and Bruce Dern as a sometimes wild-eyed ex-vet who'd love some action. Dante and crew seem to have a knack for keeping these broad characterisations light enough that you don't mind their superficiality. But the best jokes in this unprepossessing film come from composer Jerry Goldsmith's score; Bruce Dern's presence, for instance, is announced by the theme from Patton, and the boys' first approach to the Klopeks' for a meet-and-greet is buttressed by classic strains from Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns. Kudos to the Klopeks, for their evil ways are ably embodied by Henry Gibson, Courtney Gains, and Brother Theodore. In particular, any suburb that finds it's inhabited by the likes of Brother Theodore is in dire need of new zoning laws. But Carrie Fisher's role as Ray's amiably long-suffering wife is thankless, and she deserves better. --Jim Gay

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1989
Release Date:	June 1, 2009
Runtime:	97 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	8219975
Keywords:	Comedy, General, Burbs, 'burbs
Genre:	Comedy