The Good Neighbor centers on American journalist David (Luke Kleintank) as he moves to Latvia to start a new job at a foreign bureau there. David quickly befriends his seemingly kind and helpful neighbor, Robert (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). As repayment for helping him get his car fixed, David invites Robert for a drink one night. At the club, David meets Janine (Ieva Florence) and they spend the night dancing and exchanging numbers. Driving home from the club, David and Robert strike and kill a woman on a bike who ends up being Janine. Drunk and afraid of the consequences, they vow to stay quiet about the situation and cover their tracks the best they can. Robert, determined to keep his new friend, is willing to go much further to keep the secret and his new friend. 

The Good Neighbor is a throwback to the 1990’s thrillers, when crazy roommates, bad seed kids, and extramarital affairs reigned supreme. The setup immediately hooks the audience, but the remaining run time mostly follows the cliches and tropes of those movies from the 90s. While we are drawn in by the accident and the secret that comes with it, the remaining events seem cookie cutter and overly familiar. Watching Robert go to great lengths to keep the secret should be the fun part of this, but most of the set pieces are predictable and lack any sort of real tension. There’s the standard pursuit through a dark alley and the like, and they play out the way you’d expect. Finding a different twist on these, or at least infusing them with more tension, would have made for a more compelling watch. 

While the predictable nature of the story and its actions detracts, Jonathan Rhys Meyers performance as the unhinged and obsessed Robert makes it equally as compelling and fun. For a decent chunk of his career, Meyers was cast as the attractive male lead in period pieces, dramas, and action movies. Here, he utilizes his weathered face and ice-cold blue eyes to great effect. He maintains the even, upper-class delivery of lines that have been present in most of his roles, but they take on a more sinister tone than at any other time. Robert, for the most part, is a one-dimensional character, one simply hell-bent on keeping a deep secret and maintaining a friendship with David. Giving more of a back story for Robert, a traumatic or life-changing event perhaps would have fleshed out the character and his actions even more. It also would have given Meyers more to work with and could have provided an opportunity for a more menacing character. Despite this missed opportunity, Meyers makes the most of the moment and is the strongest aspect of the movie. 

Despite the predictability, there is some fun to be had here. There are the normal twists and turns, on top of Meyers excellent performance, that makes it a worthwhile journey. These types of thrillers, especially during their peak in the 90s, always roped you in just enough where you had to see how it ended, and The Good Neighbor is no different in that respect. Still, it came tantalizing close to being a perfect throwback to those movies but just misses the mark.

6 out of 10