Well, it's January. That's the message received from “The Boy Next Door,” written by former assistant U.S. attorney Barbara Curry, produced by its star, Jennifer Lopez, and directed by Rob Cohen (“XXX,” “Dragon Heart,” “The Fast and The Furious”). Even though the movie was shot on a budget of 4 million dollars within 25 days, a tight constraint is no excuse for this movie to be so simplistic.
The concept of someone falling prey to temptation and then paying for it is nothing new, (“Basic Instinct,” “Fatal Attraction,” "Swimfan") but it seems this movie tries its hardest to not only stray from an attempt at trying a new perspective of this but to do even worse than its antecedents. “The Boy Next Door” goes through the motions, getting through plot points and set ups just so things will happen. Immediate exposition once the movie starts shown through weird and poorly audio dubbed flashbacks? Check. Sassy best friend who ends up being in danger? Check. Horrible dialogue such as "schmutz" and saying a computer has a "triple processor”? Check. Have a seemingly normal guy instantly turn crazy because the story needs him to be? Check, check, and check!
Curry's script is rushed and riddled with cliches, such as the cheating husband, the son who gets picked on by bullies, and Lopez and Ryan Guzman's character sharing an intense literary connection. Both have read “The Illiad,” never mind that every 9th grader has to read that book. Knowing it doesn’t make him special.
None of the characters are believable and they all make baffling decisions just for the sake of plot. Rob Cohen's directing also lacks in this movie. Even though he's made his less than stellar films, Cohen does have the ability to make good movies. But that ability is not present here. There's no clear tone, or direction with the actors, intelligent blocking, or visual language. At first the technique of shaky-cam worked to emphasize a raw emotion or distress, but then it was used in every other scene and quickly lost its power. Maybe I'm just reading too deep into this, but I think Universal picked up this movie because they needed something for January's slot, and Jennifer Lopez is naked in this movie, so people will see it.
This rejected Lifetime movie serves its purpose well enough, I suppose and will be the movie that your grandma will watch one night on TNT, and tell you it's a "good movie" as you try to convince her to see “Whiplash” instead.