The Boy Next Door is a thriller simply meant to attract viewers with good looking people. This film is one giant cliché of the thriller genre, and frankly is one of the most boring theatrical experiences I have had in awhile. Outside of some good directing during the action scenes, this films has really nothing to offer. The following is my review of The Boy Next Door.
The Boy Next Door was written by Barbara Curry, who gets her first Hollywood break on this film. The story is fairly simple. Claire Peterson(Jennifer Lopez) is a high school teacher, right before the school year starts a new student moves in next door. He will be going to the school Claire teaches at. Well, the back story here is that Claire is having marriage problems with her husband, and she is lonely. Without going into too much detailed here, she falls for the student next door and when she wants to break it off with him, he goes insane. Not really much I'm missing. The story is paper thin, as expected in a film like this. The film very slow and nothing really keeps your interest over the course of the film. I was just bored watching this film. Overall, Curry does a below average job on this script, but to be fair, most were not expecting much anyway.
The film was directed by Rob Cohen. Cohen is well known for directing popular films such as The Fast and the Furious, XXX, and more recently he directed the Alex Cross film. For him to take a film on like this is not a big surprise as his career is not as big as it once was. He is also known for big action movies, and that doesn't happen much in this film. There are some bigger action scenes, but they are quick and there aren't many. The acting lead by actress Jennifer Lopez is another awful area. Lopez is not known to be a great actress, but you don't really buy what she is selling in her role. Cohen usually doesn't get great performances from his actors, but this was very bad in that aspect. While there aren't many action scenes, I must admit the ones in the film aren't badly shot. With Cohen's experience shooting those types of scenes, this is to be expected. So I will give the film at least some credit. Rob Cohen offers up another bust in his recent string of bad film, but one has to wonder why take a film on like that knowing it wasn't going to be good.
Nathan Barr and Randy Edelman are the composers of this film. Barr is known for scoring films like Grindhouse and Hostel, while Edelman is known for scoring films like XXX and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor(both directed by Rob Cohen). The overall score is depth less. The bigger areas of the score hit towards the end of the film when the action picks up. For a thriller a score is very important and can make a film better. I never felt anything from this score. It adds nothing, and in the end was a complete waste of some good talent.
In closing, we are left with a lifeless thriller of a film. There are some good aspects to the film, but nothing that saves it from the mess that it is. Most going into this film probably knew it was going to be a low budget film and not very good. Outside of looking at Jennifer Lopez for about a hour and a half, there is no reason to spend any money on this film.
3/10
The Boy Next Door was written by Barbara Curry, who gets her first Hollywood break on this film. The story is fairly simple. Claire Peterson(Jennifer Lopez) is a high school teacher, right before the school year starts a new student moves in next door. He will be going to the school Claire teaches at. Well, the back story here is that Claire is having marriage problems with her husband, and she is lonely. Without going into too much detailed here, she falls for the student next door and when she wants to break it off with him, he goes insane. Not really much I'm missing. The story is paper thin, as expected in a film like this. The film very slow and nothing really keeps your interest over the course of the film. I was just bored watching this film. Overall, Curry does a below average job on this script, but to be fair, most were not expecting much anyway.
The film was directed by Rob Cohen. Cohen is well known for directing popular films such as The Fast and the Furious, XXX, and more recently he directed the Alex Cross film. For him to take a film on like this is not a big surprise as his career is not as big as it once was. He is also known for big action movies, and that doesn't happen much in this film. There are some bigger action scenes, but they are quick and there aren't many. The acting lead by actress Jennifer Lopez is another awful area. Lopez is not known to be a great actress, but you don't really buy what she is selling in her role. Cohen usually doesn't get great performances from his actors, but this was very bad in that aspect. While there aren't many action scenes, I must admit the ones in the film aren't badly shot. With Cohen's experience shooting those types of scenes, this is to be expected. So I will give the film at least some credit. Rob Cohen offers up another bust in his recent string of bad film, but one has to wonder why take a film on like that knowing it wasn't going to be good.
Nathan Barr and Randy Edelman are the composers of this film. Barr is known for scoring films like Grindhouse and Hostel, while Edelman is known for scoring films like XXX and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor(both directed by Rob Cohen). The overall score is depth less. The bigger areas of the score hit towards the end of the film when the action picks up. For a thriller a score is very important and can make a film better. I never felt anything from this score. It adds nothing, and in the end was a complete waste of some good talent.
In closing, we are left with a lifeless thriller of a film. There are some good aspects to the film, but nothing that saves it from the mess that it is. Most going into this film probably knew it was going to be a low budget film and not very good. Outside of looking at Jennifer Lopez for about a hour and a half, there is no reason to spend any money on this film.
3/10