Justin Watts
Staff Writer
Desperate for a new hit, director Rob Cohen attempts to throw together a new trashy thriller in the mediocre film, “The Boy Next Door.”
“The Boy Next Door” is a failure compared to other thrillers because of lousy acting and a poor plot. Although the few positive aspects, such as the setting, make the film appear realistic, there are many more negative aspects than positive in this film.
The film follows Claire Peterson (Jennifer Lopez), a high school teacher who gets romantically involved with her younger neighbor Noah Sandborn (Ryan Guzman). Noah becomes obsessed with his neighbor, Claire, and follows her wherever she goes.
As Claire begins to find Noah wherever she is, Claire becomes aware that Noah is stalking her. Noah becomes more obsessed with Claire and tries to kill anyone close to her.
This film begins very slowly for the first half as the director attempts to introduce each of the characters. It fails to succeed as a thriller because of the lack of suspense and atrocious “jump-out” scenes. This slow beginning is a big downgrade to the thriller because instead of scaring it’s audience it bores them.
Another awful aspect of this film is the unrealistic story because of the senseless choices the characters make throughout the film. For example, Claire foolishly attempts to stop Noah when he tries to kill her family instead of calling the police.
An additional wretched facet of this film is the predictability. Each scene leaves viewers knowing what will happen next in the film. This is another huge disappointment to this thriller because it bores viewers, does not scare them.
The most disappointing aspect of this film is the horrible acting. Jennifer Lopez plays her role as a teacher horribly because of her absence of emotion. She appears uninspired throughout the whole film because she displays no emotion. As well as Jennifer Lopez, most of the other main actors also act indigently and show little emotion. They start off exuberant, but as the film progresses, they too appear unmotivated and tired.
Aside from all the negative aspects of this film, the environment is realistic and helps to make this film more believable. It is set in a public neighborhood, which helps viewers relate to it because it gives the tone of a real-life situation.
Overall, the uninspiring acting and the dull plot combine to make this a poor movie about an overly obsessed teenage boy trying to get in a relationship with his neighbor’s mother, and fails to impress in almost all aspects.
“The Boy Next Door” is rated R and playing in theaters nationwide.
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