The Boy Next Door-2015

Director Rob Cohen

Starring Jennifer Lopez

Scott’s Review #254

Reviewed July 5, 2015

Grade: C-

A steamy direct rip-off of the 1987 classic film Fatal Attraction, The Boy Next Door (2015) is a mainstream thriller starring Jennifer Lopez as a separated suburban Mom raising her son alone.

One day a handsome young man, Noah (Ryan Guzman), moves in next door. He befriends her son and develops an unhealthy obsession with her.

The film is your basic thrill ride, with some jumps mixed in, but predictable as they come, and safe mainstream fare.

Claire Peterson (Lopez) lives a cozy suburban life with her socially awkward teenage son, Kevin (Ian Nelson), and works as a literature teacher at the local high school.

She lives a modest yet successful life.

Her estranged husband Garrett (John Corbett) has cheated on her with his secretary.

One day a hunky twenty-year-old neighbor, Noah, moves in, takes a shine to Kevin, and an attraction develops between Noah and Claire, despite the age gap.

The audience knows something is off.

The inevitable happens: a lonely Claire winds up in bed with Noah after a disastrous blind double date with her friend and confidant Vicky (Kristin Chenoweth), also the vice-principal of Claire’s school.

The sex scenes are titillating and sensual with lots of skin.

I went in not expecting an invigorating or thought-provoking film, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The film is lightweight and predictable, with a lifetime television movie feel. The acting isn’t great, and the setups are obvious a mile away.

When Claire and Noah meet, they have instant chemistry, but the audience also senses a sinister quality in Noah.

There is no doubt he will make trouble for Claire.

As we progress, we learn Noah has a temper, another setup for what’s to come. If he feels wronged, he strikes back.

Once Claire realizes their passionate night was a mistake, Noah becomes obsessed with and vengeful toward Claire and everyone around her.

The plot is filled with one implausibility after another. I could list silly nuances for hours, but a few immediately come to mind.

I don’t buy Jennifer Lopez as an intelligent, sophisticated literature genius (despite the film hysterically having her wear nerdy glasses), nor do I buy the good-looking Ryan Guzman (Noah) as a scholarly expert in literature.

This makes the plot completely unbelievable.

Throughout the film, Noah can do whatever he wants: hack into Claire’s computer, arrange for printouts of his liaison with her to fly endlessly from the ceilings, tamper with brakes, and seamlessly splice Claire’s voice into conversations.

The entire film is ridiculous and unbelievable, but, again, it’s what I expected.

The ending surprised me abruptly with no cliffhanger or hint at a sequel, as is common with thrillers. Perhaps the filmmakers had low expectations for audience turnout.

One jarring point is that Jennifer Lopez, clearly Latina, plays a character named Claire Peterson in a suburban neighborhood. Nowhere is her Latina heritage mentioned. The character is about as white as you can get.

A dumb, entertaining ninety minutes of escapism, The Boy Next Door is not a good film (2015) but fun. It has some thrilling moments, and it’s fun to kick back, relax, and take it for what it is.

It is comparable to a McDonald’s hamburger: you know what you will get and expect nothing more.