Civic Duty

2006
R
1h 38m

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

3.5K

YOUR RATING

A man is paranoid that his neighbor is a terrorist in this trailer for the thriller

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2 Videos

24 Photos

Conspiracy Thriller Drama Thriller

Angry and depressed over losing his job, Terry Allen begins to suspect his new, Middle Eastern neighbor is at the center of a terrorist conspiracy. Obsessed about revealing the man's true id... Read allAngry and depressed over losing his job, Terry Allen begins to suspect his new, Middle Eastern neighbor is at the center of a terrorist conspiracy. Obsessed about revealing the man's true identity, he takes matters into his own hands.Angry and depressed over losing his job, Terry Allen begins to suspect his new, Middle Eastern neighbor is at the center of a terrorist conspiracy. Obsessed about revealing the man's true identity, he takes matters into his own hands.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

3.5K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations

Trivia
The cast has strong ties to Aaron Sorkin's television projects: Peter Krause starred as anchor Casey McCall in Sports Night (1998), Richard Schiff was communications director Toby Ziegler on The West Wing (1999), and Kari Matchett did a five-episode run on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006) as attorney Mary Tate.

Goofs
All the news scrolls go from left to right, but news scrolls go right to left (at least in languages that read left to right) so you see the first words first. This makes it impossible to read. The filmmakers did this intentionally, and it's up to the viewer to decide why they did it this way.

Quotes
Bank Teller: Did you know sir, in the future you can also use the ATM machine just outside the front doors and avoid the waiting in line for a teller?
Terry Allen: Yes I did, thank you.
Bank Teller: I love our customers prefer that option actually.
Terry Allen: Really? Do you know what ATM stands for ? Automatic Teller Machine. So when you say ATM machine, what you're actually saying is automatic teller machine machine. Now either you're just being ignorantly redundant or you really want to emphasize that machine part. In which case you're not really providing very personal care or excellent service, are you? You just want to talk to customers, do some script that your manager set up for you to sell some programs or something like that, or give to you tellers behind the lines so to go outside and use the ATM?

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Georgia Rule/Away from Her/The Ex/28 Weeks Later/Civic Duty (2007)

User reviews36

Review

Featured review

interesting but slow-moving and depressing throughout

The topic is very interesting, and somewhat important in the face of the post-9/11 terrorist attack, resulting in a backlash of suspicion by many US citizens toward people of middle-eastern descent or culture.

This paranoid-episode focuses on a down and out man, and the suspicions he experiences when a new neighbor of apparent middle-eastern background moves into a nearby apartment. Various pre-existing marital tensions in his marriage contribute to fuel his determination.

All of the acting is well-done. Most everything is well-done. But it's just plain depressing and down-mood, from beginning to end, so don't plan on watching it for weekend escape-entertainment.

If you were hoping for action, there's almost none of it here. Even on suspense, there's very little. It's more of a drama with a slight edge at a few points in the latter third of the movie. The last minute or two of the movie's ending left me unclear on what had happened and what was implied. I felt that it could be interpreted at least two different ways.

Overall, it's a worthwhile movie with food for thought. But I wouldn't think of it as invigorating or thought-provoking-- it was more frustrating, from my point of view.