The Boy Next
Door
A moment she couldn't resist, an obsession he can't control
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Guzman, John Corbett, KristenChenoweth,etc
Directed by: Rob Cohen
Genre: Thriller
Released Date: January 23, 2015 (USA)
Rating: R
Run time: 91 min
The Boy
Next Door follows the story of a young married woman named Claire (Jennifer Lopez). Her married life was not so good at that moment. Her husband (John Corbett) was caught cheating with his secretary and she’s been thinking about
getting a divorce. Then she meets a teenager named Noah (Ryan Guzman) - her
neighbor’s nephew. Noah befriends with Kevin (Ian Nelson), Claire’s son and
also begins attending his school, where Claire teaches Literature there. Noah
expressed that he loves Homer’s Iliad which makes Claire begins to draw
attention towards him. One day when Kevin was away, Noah asks Claire to help
him to cook and then he seduces her and then they have sex. Since then, Noah begins
to come over to Claire’s house more often. He becomes obsessed and possessive
towards Claire. He turns from this sweet eye candy into a violent and
aggressive guy, especially after she tells him that that night is a mistake and
she regrets it.
This movie
is directed by Rob Cohen and written by Barbara Curry. JLo acting
was okay. In my opinion, it was a little bit better than hers in The Back Up Plan. Ryan Guzman’s
performance was pretty good in playing the audiences emotion. Okay, he’s creepy
enough in playing the obsessive stalker dude but that’s all. Maybe it’s his
acting or maybe it’s the plot or maybe it’s both, but he does not come off as
the psychotic character as much as Rosamund Pike’s acting in Gone Girl. But
after all, maybe that’s not the kind of character they’re going after in this
movie.
Generally, the whole
movie aspect looks okay. It has that typical thriller movie plot and I do enjoy
thriller movie. But it feels like I am watching something exactly the same plot
taken out of some thriller movie just with different actors and actresses. The
thing is, if I’ve never seen any thriller movie in my entire life, this movie
might be a well,still an okay movie but it will be a little bit better. But then, they keep making thriller movies that is
pretty much the same. The same plot the same twist and most of the time, the
same predictable ending, which kind of makes me lose interest. But after all I guess that’s
what some moviemakers intended to do. They want the audience to feel fed up with the
obvious stupidity that the main character do but still making it interesting
enough for the audience to keep watching. I mean, seriously, why in almost
every thriller movie does the main character have that one scene where, in this
case, she somehow turns stupid?? Like, is that even necessary? To answer the
question, when it comes to typical thriller, yes it is. (Tell me I’m not the
only who feel this way. Sorry, Rob!)
I actually
expecting something better than classic plot. Then again, I expected too much.
I thought they were over this kind of movie?! I really wish that someday there will come a time when they make a thriller
movie as good as Gone Girl or something like that. Okay, I know that the whole
idea is completely different and I don't really know about filmmaking concept and everything. But still! Have you seen Gone Girl? That movie is
crazy! That is what I call mindblowing. Anyway, I gave this movie 4.5/10 stars.
You can check the trailer down below
Rotten tomatoes rating : 13%
Metascore: 30/100
IMDB: 4.3/10
Trivia (spoiler alert)
Sources: Wikipedia, IMDB
P.S: I apologize for my continuous
comparison of this movie with Gone Girl
