Noise ((2007))

Desperate for some peace and quiet, New York attorney David Owen (Tim Robbins) takes matters into his own hands. He starts by leaving notes on cars whose owners don't turn off their alarms, but when he's not getting the results he wants, he ups the ante. Soon, he becomes known as "the Rectifier," alternately winning the adulation of citizens and the ire of the mayor (William Hurt). Bridget Moynahan co-stars.

Tim Robbins plays an anti-car alarm extremist and attempts to silence the annoyance rather than accept it as everyday background sound. At first the irritable New York City lawyer vandalizes every offending vehicle he hears outside his apartment window. But after failing to obey the many stiff warnings delivered from an irate judge he's ordered to serve a thirty day sentence behiind bars. Upon release he's greeted by his packed bags and an infuriated wife who kicks him out for not getting a grip on his obsessive anger. Now single again with nothing to lose and fearless, his vigilante campaign escalates, acquires notoriety and becomes known as "The Rectifier". One day while dining out our hero is intruded upon by a sympathizing young Russian girl who encourages the radical to legitimize his fight and draw up a petition to submit in City Hall. She becomes his steady squeeze and together they push for a referendum to ban all car alarms within city limits. An anti-alarm movement begins only to be blockaded by a big-headed buffoonish Mayor played by William Hurt and his brown-nosing chief of staff, William Baldwin. The film has its absurdities and is slightly disjointed but altogether I liked it because I too am a seething hater of all car alarms. This quirky tale obviously makes a statement concerning noise pollution, a trivialized environmental issue but a daily displeasure we just all seem to accept nowadays. This was a funny story with an entertaining message that you just might find appealing.

Good movie, especially if you ran out of ideas on what to watch. The only people who would disagree, would be the people who believe, rediculously, that a car alarm protects their car. Only fault I see in this film is an obscure detour in the plot with only a thread of connectivity to the story line.


***/*****

3/5 Stars