The Boy Next Door Has One Flaw That’s Bigger Than All the Rest

Few celebrities have this kind of career. Jennifer Lopez Since his emergence in the late nineties with an excellent performance in the role of the main character in Selena And an equally impressive turn into wild entertainment. out of sightShe has become a fashion icon and one of the most prominent Latin celebrities of this generation. In addition to being a hugely successful pop star, she has also become one of the leading ladies of romantic comedies, and recently gave an unusual, Oscar-worthy performance in the film scammers.

However, despite her fame, there is no denying that her career has seen many peaks and valleys over the years. Giglicapitalizing on her (first) relationship with Ben Affleck, It was nothing short of a disaster. It briefly turned both of them into laughingstocks in Hollywood. But even outside of that elephant in the room, while Lopez has been in a lot of great movies throughout her career, she’s also made some really bad ones. And few of those bad movies are more confusing than this 2015 film. The boy next door.

The boy next door is meaningless

The boy next doorDirected by Rob Cohen XXXXX And The Fast and the Furious Fame, obviously inspired by being a cheap erotic thriller in the style of fatal attraction And Basic instinctThe story revolves around Claire Peterson (Lopez), A teacher who recently separated from her cheating husband but did not completely separate from himNoah Sandson (Ryan Guzman), a 19-year-old, moves in next door, befriends Claire's son, and eventually spends just one night with her.

As is typical of erotic thrillers, things escalate from there. Claire immediately regrets their night together and tries to end the relationship, and to say that Noah doesn’t take it well is probably an understatement. He begins to get uncomfortably close to her son Kevin, manipulating the boy against his parents. He violently fights a boy who bullies Kevin at school, fracturing his skull. He gradually begins to manipulate his way into Claire’s life, threatening to expose their relationship if she doesn’t comply.

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The main problem with the movie is that it makes absolutely no sense. Roger Ebert He once described an “idiot plot” as “any plot that could be solved in five minutes if everyone in the story wasn't an idiot,” and few films in recent memory embody this concept more than The boy next doorDespite Lopez's best efforts to add some detail to an otherwise worthless character, Claire spends most of the film unfazed by the presence of an obvious stalker, as the obvious solution, going to the police, would have resolved the plot almost immediately.

But the bigger problem is that the script escalates the conflict so quickly that it completely passes the point of believability. fatal attraction And Basic instinct The film works largely because, despite their clichés, they have a modicum of humanity, and they realize that the appeal of a erotic film lies in the fact that it allows its characters to engage in forbidden behavior. Since Claire is already separated from her husband, a one-night stand is not the sexy resolution the film thinks it is. Noah becomes downright evil after being rejected, going from zero to eleven in what seems like a split second. All the characters overreact to simple situations, and begin to give up. The plot only exists because of the exaggerated reactions to these exaggerations..

Jennifer Lopez's character is being unfairly punished

In addition to, The film's message is confusing at best.As mentioned earlier, Claire begins the film separated from her husband, Garrett (John Corbett), ever since he was caught having an affair with his secretary. However, they still live in the same house, as she has no desire to officially divorce him, and the script doesn’t deal with the difficult vocal balancing act that this dynamic requires. For one, the two seem to be on perfectly good terms, and Garrett doesn’t even seem like the type who would cheat on his wife.

clearly, Claire's frustration over her betrayal is what leads her to have a one-night stand with Noah.Although she immediately regrets it, she spends most of the film paying a price that seems unfair for it. She deals with her son slowly turning on her and threatening her with public humiliation if her affair is exposed. At one point, Noah rapes her and blackmails her into continuing their relationship. He later kills one of her best friends, and Claire is ultimately forced to kill Noah after he threatens Garrett and Kevin. Notably, Claire discovers that Noah is her son. While her life falls apart due to her betrayal, Garrett's relationship is never fully explored, and he never has to pay the price for his betrayal..

But late in the runtime, Noah's backstory is revealed, as they were both The boy next door But his message is completely off track. He spends most of the movie without any underlying motivation or ultimate goal other than ruining Claire's life, but we eventually learn that his father had an affair when he was very young. His mother committed suicide in desperation, and Noah took revenge by tampering with the brakes on his father's car, causing an accident that killed him and his mistress.

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This revelation raises the question of why Noah would engage in an affair of his own, if an affair had destroyed his family life, to the point where he would explicitly threaten Claire with staying with him. If the point is that Noah was so consumed by his trauma that he eventually repeated the same mistakes his father made, that would be interesting. But the film doesn't explore that at all.Considering that every other character in the film who commits adultery faces punishment, the fact that Claire's husband doesn't face punishment is downright ridiculous.

The boy next door is so bad he's good

What was said, The boy next door Nothing but wild entertainment, albeit for unintended reasons.The horrendous acting, the nonsensical plot, and the utterly ridiculous internal logic are all so appalling that it's almost impossible not to laugh. And because the mixed messages reveal a film that has no grasp of the story it's trying to tell, it's too stupid to be truly upset about.

If you are a fan of really bad cinema, The boy next door Maybe it's for you. The boy next door It is streaming on Netflix.