The Couchpotatoes I would say The Lodger is a good mystery/thriller but only for television. Just relax in front of the telly and try to figure out what is happening. I thought I had it figured out after twenty minutes but I was wrong and that is what I like about mystery/thrillers. The actors are okay in their roles. They might not be the best actors ever but they are certainly worth a watch. There are enough turns and twists to keep you guessing in what's going on. Some people might think there are too many but I thought it was fine. I was only a bit disappointed at the end. I thought it was just a bit too confusing. But other then that The Lodger is an okay movie to watch once or if you have nothing else to do.

Michael_Elliott The Lodger (2009) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Yet another remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1927 film but this one is set in current day Los Angeles where a maniac is killing hookers. While a detective (Alfred Molina) tries to solve the case, an unhappily married woman (Hope Davis) rents her guest house to a mysterious writer (Simon Baker). One could argue that we really didn't need yet another version of this story but I think they did enough interesting things here to make this version worth watching. I think it falls well short of the 1927 and 1944 versions but I did like a few of the changes they did here. Setting the story in current times allows the filmmakers to use stuff like DNA and other scientific things to try to solve the cases. It also helps that the filmmakers are able to use the Jack the Ripper sideline as someone trying to copy his murders. I will say that the final ten minutes of the movie are without question the best thing in the film because it offers up a couple very nice twists that actually work. I'm certainly not going to give them away but I enjoyed them very much. The performances are also another major plus as Molina is excellent as the detective obsessed with solving the case. Shane West is good as his partner and Philip Baker Hall is also strong as the police chief. Rachel Leigh Cook plays the detective's daughter in a small role. Both Davis and Baker are also good in their portion of the story. I think some of the attempted style is a bit overdone and especially the scenes showing the L.A. freeways. I think less would have been a bit more in regards to the style thrown in by the director. Still, fans of the story will probably want to check this one out and while it's not a complete success it's at least good enough to be worth watching.

jotix100 Marie Belloc's novel, serves once again as the basis of this 2009 treatment that doesn't go anywhere. Partly, the fault lies with the treatment of its well intentioned writer/director, David Ondaatje. His inexperience, perhaps, was the factor that this movie probably went into DVD right away, as it appears the commercial run didn't go anywhere since it must have come and gone without much publicity, or word of mouth.The locale of the story has been changed from London to a rainy Los Angeles, seen mostly at night. The serial killer who is killing prostitutes in a seedy part of town is following in the steps of Jack the Ripper, the famed English killer. This sick man finds digs in what appears to be an uninhabited garage in the back of a house that has seen better days. The mysterious lodger catches the landlady's fancy; this woman is stuck in a bad marriage. She looks as though she is not dealing with reality, but the attraction the new renter has upon her proves to be too much.When the dead women begin to surface, detective Chandler Manning has to face guilty feelings because the present killer has the same M.O. as the man he has sent to the electric chair a short time before. Manning has a suspicion the murders follow the same logic as the ones committed almost a century ago in London. His obsession gets the best of him, making him lose perspective.The picture fails because the way Mr. Ondaatje presents the story. There is no suspense in most of the action. If the viewer happens to be a fan of the genre, he would notice things that will spoil the fun for him. The director doesn't create enough atmosphere to do justice to what he tried to do.The talented cast is totally wasted. Alfred Molina and Hope Davis are excellent actors, but the way they were asked to portray their characters is not believable. For one, the detective of Mr. Molina, or the vapid landlady of Ms. Davis, will not add anything to their brilliant careers.

Jay Harris A little background first.In 1888, In London Englamd Jack The Ripper savagely killed 6 ladies of the evening. Even though there were many suspects, & many theories, we never found out who he was or why this happened.In about 1925 Maria Belloc Loundes wrote the novel THE LODGER. It was a success, In 1926/7 Alfred Hitchcock who was starting to create a name for himself in Movies, made the silent version of the novel. We know what happened to Mr Hitchcock & his career,In 1944, the next version of The Lodger was made, starring Laird Cregar.Mr.Cregar was a huge man, only in his 20's very tall & very heavy. His very presence in any scene in any of the few films he made (he was only 28 when he passed on)commanded attention from the audience. This version was directed by John Brahm who was(at the time) made suspenseful movies 'ala' Hitchcock. It was a big hit and considered one of the better films of that year.Now we come to the current version. First, what was good in the film,the settings & costumes were very good,The killing were not seen in total, You hear victims scream & limbs moving.(this is the way they did it in both earlier versions). The acting was good by a talented cast; headed by Alfred Molina and Shane West as the 2 detectives assigned to the case. Hope Davis & Donal Logue as the couple who rent the guest house to Simon Baker, Philip Baker Hall as an FBI agent.Rachel Leigh Cook & the ever reliable, Rebecca Pidgeon also have major roles.We do not learn who the killer is until almost the end of movie, It is a slight but not unexpected surprise.Now for what I did not like. They changed the location from a slimy section of London Eng. in 1888 to modern Los Angeles, West Hollywood. The area is far from slimy,some parts are rundown but not like in the movie. I KNOW because I call the West Hollywood area my home.They have a few scenes in pouring rain, we rarely ever have such rain as depicted.This version was written & directer by David Ondaatje.Maybe because I may have seen too many films of this nature, I was not impressed. It had a very brief run in Jan.2009 & released to DVD in March 2009,.There are some nice extras on the DVD<Ratings: **1/2 out of 4..73 points out of 100.. IMDb 6.. out of 10