The Good Neighbor (2022) Movie Review

Stephan Rick’s “The Good Neighbor” is a thriller that has been a part of his portfolio on both the big and small screens. The film is a remake of his 2011 German-language debut feature of the same title. The story remains largely untouched; however, the setting has changed to Latvia, presumably for financing reasons. The revamp of the film is easily digestible due to the competent performances and slick veneer. However, one wishes that Rick had placed more emphasis on Hitchcockian suspense, rather than trusting the slow-moving tale would hold us via plot and character complexities that really aren’t particularly evident.

The plot of the movie revolves around American journalist David, played by Luke Kleintank, who has accepted a job with the “European Press Network” in Riga in the wake of a bad relationship breakup. While he gets settled, his editor Grant, played by Bruce Davison, is letting him stay at a house he owns outside of town. Thus he meets next-door neighbor Robert, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who proves helpful in getting a stubborn car started. In thanks, David invites the Latvian-British man out for a drink. They end up at a club where the new guy meets another Brit, vivacious Janine, played by Ieva Florence. They strike sparks enough that they exchange numbers before she pedals off home.

Unfortunately, on the tipsy drive back to their own abodes, the two men plow right into a bicyclist riding down the middle of a dark lane. The victim is unmistakably Janine, and now unmistakably dead. Robert persuades stricken David there’s nothing they can do for her, and that contacting the police would only land them both in prison. So a cover-up commences that the local seems to hope will bind him to his new best friend.

David’s allegiance has a queasy edge, as do his actions whenever it appears they might be found out. Inevitably that begins to imperil others, not least Janine’s sister Vanessa, played by Eloise Smyth. David becomes involved with Vanessa once she seeks his help. This is awkward since he has been assigned to report on the case of her sibling’s death. Never mind asking why an international news service would bother covering a local hit-and-run story. This new attachment threatens the increasingly possessive and creepy Robert.

Rhys Meyers is in good form making Robert pleasant enough to lure in unwary David but also nuts enough to trigger the viewer’s alarms early on. Of course, with its echoes of everything from “Strangers on a Train” to “Single White Female,” the basic dynamic between the two leads is a familiar one. Robert is given almost no backstory, and the script isn’t really shocking or clever enough to make him a memorable villain, so the actor can only take it so far. The movie does not explicitly venture into retro “Crazy Homicidal Gay Usurper” territory, though there’s a suggestive whiff of that. Kleintank is OK in his more colorless protagonist part, while Smyth gets some grit into the grieving sister, and Davison is good as usual.

The slippery-slope narrative of the film can hardly help holding our attention, even if Rick does little to maximize its tension. The violence mostly remains off-screen, and the pace is far from taut. The film has a widescreen look that flatters Riga, but its handsome brightness doesn’t stir much suspenseful atmosphere. Enis Rotthoff’s original score is also not very effective in creating tension.

Overall, "The Good Neighbor" is a competent thriller that keeps the viewer's attention, but it falls short in its execution of the genre. While the performances are solid, particularly Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the unnerving Robert, the script lacks the suspense and psychological nuance necessary to make it a truly memorable film.

In conclusion, "The Good Neighbor" is a serviceable thriller that will provide a reasonably entertaining 90 minutes or so. However, it lacks the originality, tension, and psychological nuance necessary to make it a standout film in the genre. While the performances are solid, the script is ultimately too formulaic and contrived to make a lasting impression on the viewer.