Movie Review: 'Obsessed'

Derek Charles, a successful asset manager who has just received a huge promotion, is blissfully happy in his career and in his marriage to the beautiful Beth. But when Lisa, a temp worker, starts stalking Derek, everything he's worked so hard for, are placed in jeopardy.

Storyline:

Scripted by David Loughery, who also penned "Lakeview Terrance", "Obsessed" takes you down the road of extreme predictability and leaves very little to the imagination of what's to come at the finish line.

Obviously, an updated version of the 1987 classic thriller, "Fatal Attraction", which has lived in the minds of moviegoers for over two decades, as we examined Glenn Close, as the woman disdained that let her frustration evoke an emotion that caught moviegoers, especially women, by the heart.

With that said, "Obsessed", is just the opposite, as the movie fails to establish a real connection between Derek, played by Idris Elba, and Lisa, played by Ali Larter. Furthermore, unlike the original thriller, there isn't any actual adultery, but with just an office flirtation that sends Lisa into overdrive.

Beth, played by Beyonce Knowles, who also met Derek when she was his assistant, comes across insecure and, at times, a little stupid. She is immediately jealous at thought her husband's new female assistant and fails to completely evoke the positive, strong woman image, that I'm sure the creators and Beyonce were shooting for.

Temptation after temptation, incident after incident, the movie finally draws to a close with Beth and Lisa sparring it out in a much buzz about cat fight, which although lackluster, at best, ends with the already anticipated death of Lisa.

Acting:

The acting definitely plays a huge role in making the movie almost unwatchable, as the three leads all fail to deliver significant pieces to the puzzle. Idris Elba portrays his character solidly, but all in all, he just lacks a charisma and likability, which was indubitably needed to take his character to the next level. Ali Larter, blunders on every account to take her acting from the realms of bitchy teen movies into the bounds of sexy thriller.

With that said, both Idris and Ali have proven their talent on many accounts, so the biggest test arises in a non-musical Beyonce finally trying to show off her acting chops. Unfortunately, she continued to prove she has very little to offer in that field, given she never quite establishes solid footing. Sometimes she gives too much and other times she fails to give enough, and she continuously brings the words 'awkward', 'wooden', and 'forced' to the surface.

Direction and Visual:

This is definitely not the movie's downfall, but the director never quite gives you the sexy thriller that the trailer promised, and it fails to bring on a sense of seduction, and, put simply, is just extremely to tame.

Overall:

In conclusion, the movie does entertain to a certain extent, but it's biggest flaw is that its billed a 'thriller', but is unsuccessful in the art of suspense. There just isn't enough done with the storyline and it lacks of sense of depth and just all around realness.

2 out of 5