In the paranoid atmosphere of post 9/11, Terry Allen (Peter Krause) gets laid off as a corporate accountant. He starts obsessing with his newly arrived Arab neighbor. His wife Marla (Kari Matchett) is concerned. He contacts the FBI and Agent Tom Hilary (Richard Schiff) is assigned the case.
I don't really buy this FBI. It seems that the post 9/11 FBI would treat every Arab with suspicion. No charity is innocent. No Muslim is loyal. Every dollar is used by terrorists. The only good paranoia move is to make the FBI overworked. They wouldn't have enough manpower to investigate Terry's case. In which case, there would be no Hilary character. That would be much better and it would isolate Terry more. There is one moment where I thought the movie could turn the whole situation into a great shock twist. Marla shows up wearing a police windbreaker. At that moment, I thought the movie would make most of the story into his delusion and Marla turns out not to be his wife. It's not the most ingenious twist but it would have given it a satisfying wrap-up. Instead, the whole thing is real. The problems remain. The ending is much and isn't satisfying.
I don't really buy this FBI. It seems that the post 9/11 FBI would treat every Arab with suspicion. No charity is innocent. No Muslim is loyal. Every dollar is used by terrorists. The only good paranoia move is to make the FBI overworked. They wouldn't have enough manpower to investigate Terry's case. In which case, there would be no Hilary character. That would be much better and it would isolate Terry more. There is one moment where I thought the movie could turn the whole situation into a great shock twist. Marla shows up wearing a police windbreaker. At that moment, I thought the movie would make most of the story into his delusion and Marla turns out not to be his wife. It's not the most ingenious twist but it would have given it a satisfying wrap-up. Instead, the whole thing is real. The problems remain. The ending is much and isn't satisfying.