Disturbia (2007, D.J. Caruso) **

Ironic title for a serviceable teen empowerment flick that is far more interested in assuaging than agitating. But if Caruso and his rote story beats don't make much effort to reveal -- as countless other films already have -- the seedy underbelly of suburban America, they expose something fresher: an adolescent technoculture chained to its devices by a force more omnipotent than any electronic house arrest anklet (canceling an Xbox Live account or swiping an iPod -- "That's 60 gigs of my life!" -- are notable acts of retribution; reading a book is treated as a divine act by an ethereal creature). Disturbia shows overly stimulated imaginations run amok. When most of protagonist Kale's (overemphatic Shia LaBeouf, channeling a bursting teen energy) gadgets are stripped from him (video games, TV, iTunes, car), he cannily uses whatever remains (cell phone, camcorder, monitor) to craft a high-tech game of Clue, like an addict always jonzing for his next fix.