Is "The Boy Next Door" just another "Fatal Attraction" copycat? While the latter was a 1987 Adrian Lyne psychological thriller starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close and Anne Archer, "The Boy Next Door" is a 2015 erotic thriller featuring singer-actress Jennifer Lopez and "Step Up" actor Ryan Guzman.
"The Boy Next Door" depicts the tale of Claire (Lopez), a divorcee, single mom and English lit teacher, who has a friendly and helpful neighbor Noah (Guzman), whose parents had died in tragic car accident. According to Us Weekly, Noah and Claire engage in a little bit of harmless flirtation. However, the once harmless friendship (which Claire thinks) turned into an obsession for Noah after Claire gave into temptation when her 19-year-old hunky neighbor seduce her to a one-night stand. But when she decided to end the relationship, he turns violent and started wreaking havoc into Claire's lives.
Since the '90s, the erotic thriller genre had been fading from Hollywood features. But with "The Boy Next Door," director Rob Cohen reinvented the genre in an entertaining way that would reflect the current year and not the '90s. However, the film received generally negative reviews.
"It looks cheaply made and has a plot hinging on provocation and contrivance far more than good sense or good taste," Time magazine stated. While The New York Post said, "Directed by Rob Cohen as an unabashed trash wallow, "The Boy Next Door'' wants badly to be a cut-rate "Fatal Attraction,'' but ends up getting more laughs than many comedies."
Though J. Lo's latest flick has opened with a remarkable $500,000 during its premiere on Thursday night as Variety cited, but critics felt the erotic thriller film did not ultimately deliver the promised "campy thrills."
"The Boy Next Door may get a few howls out of fans of stalker thrillers, but for most viewers, it won't even rise to "so bad it's good 'status,' Rotten Tomatoes' consensus reads while Metacritic indicated "generally unfavorable reviews."
Despite the negative reviews, CBS Detroit said J. Lo's erotic thriller isn't a bad film. The film just didn't "break any new ground and it leaves a number of questions unanswered."
"The Boy Next Door" has been given a Rated R rating for the violence, sex or nudity and profanity depicted on the film and it is showing in over 1,500 theaters nationwide. So, is it really just a "Fatal Attraction" copycat?
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