The Boy Next Door Movie Review

Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Guzman, John Corbett, Ian Nelson, Kristin Chenoweth

Direction: Rob Cohen

Genre: Thriller

Duration: 1 hour 31 minute

Story: Split from her adulterous husband, Claire (Jennifer Lopez), a teacher of classical literature at the local high school, lands herself at the receiving end of a psychopath's wrath. Wooing her by kindly befriending her bullied son and doing 'manly' household chores for her, wine and loneliness lead vulnerable Claire into a steamy one-night stand with her next-door younger neighbour, Noah (Ryan Guzman). Her guilt kicks in only the next day and by then Noah is ready to stalk, follow and kill for Claire.

Review: The Boy Next Door is an exceedingly amateurish story fashioned as erotica, catering to cougars and juveniles. A bloated vanity project attempting to display JLo as the hottest 40-year-old, the film tries desperately to validate the obvious. Our 'older' woman-next-door is a looker and never regular - coffee hair with perfect curls, rightly slit skirts that accentuate her assets. The movie is fair to its hero as well with a good amount of sculpted biceps and chiselled ab scenes staring in our faces.

But what is missing from this superficial narrative is a solid story, the frenzy of a thriller and the scintillating chemistry of its lead pair. Plunging repeatedly into predictability, it isn't hard to foretell Noah's backstory or expect pictures of his lovemaking with Claire strung all over her classroom. The cliched climax is a convoluted mess and batters the tale to death.

A disastrous cross between a sexy money-raking venture and a psychological thriller, Rob Cohen's sloppy work at the helm of things fails to lift this otherwise proven-to-be-saleable story (like 'Fear'). There is a severe lack of inventiveness which neither Cohen nor his actors attempt to notch up.

Lopez and Guzman aren't terrible but their attraction that must drive the story is never evidently felt. The window scenes appear a bid to titillate and their bonding over Homer and Odyssey seem faux. No wonder the frames resort to loud moaning to infuse the desired sexual energy.

Culminating into a horrendously gore-filled climax, this shallow movie offers nothing new and is infuriatingly tiresome to sit through.