A play on her own life mixed with a dose of crazy, Executive Producer Jennifer Lopez stars in the new thriller, The Boy Next Door.
A high school teacher Claire Peterson, played by the beautiful JLo, did a decent job in opening the conversation of, “is this what cougars go through when trying to resist a much much younger man?” I wonder. After her cheating estranged husband leaves her vulnerable to a crazy-sexy next door neighbor Noah Sandborn (Ryan Guzman), she ends up in bed with the high school senior who just moved across the street after his parents died in a suspicious, fiery car crash. And with Noah’s protective big-brother type of relationship with her son Kevin, it’s hard to avoid bumping into the intrusive pursuer. A super regretful Claire is stuck in the most awkward of situations.
I wanted to slap Claire through the screen quite a few times, while watching the plot unfoil. For an educator whose job is to teach her students how not to adhere to peer pressure, she found herself caught in quite the trap. Yes, I’m judging. Outsmarted by the kid every time, Claire was a bit too shortsighted leaving us totally annoyed with her character. Unable to escape his wrath even if she dared to try, Guzman was impressive with his dangerously obsessive stalker antics, compiling all the proof that he needed to either put her in jail or leave her with no other option but to play him at his own game – and when it comes to movies, it’s true what they say, crazy doesn’t die so easily.
I was so expecting a bit of the once naïve Slim from Enough to emerge and break this stalker’s skull, but that’s not what I got, instead, I got someone else. In theatres, Friday, January 23rd, you be the judge.
