The Boy Next Door

Talent, story and tone mix unevenly in The Boy Next Door, a flimsy psychological thriller pairing Jennifer Lopez with the Step Up franchise’s Ryan Guzman. Though female fans of the two leads might initially buy into this gender reversed Fatal Attraction wannabe – produced by genre maestro Jason Blum – a broader audience will be significantly harder to lure.

Neither star is very physically believable in her/his role and neither manages to imbue his/her character with much in the way of credible emotion.

The film’s January 23 launch in the US and Canada through worldwide distributor Universal will test the pulling power of actor-singer-producer-designer Lopez, who hasn’t had a significant big screen hit since 2005’s Monster-in-Law. Guzman, male lead in the last two of the internationally-skewing Step Up dance movies, will be a particular asset in other territories.

Lopez plays Claire, a high school English teacher trying to get back into the dating game after separating from her cheating husband (John Corbett, from sitcom Parenthood). Guzman’s Noah is a hunky, recently-orphaned 19-year-old who moves in next door, makes friends with Claire’s nerdy son and signs up for her school.

After a night of hot sex that Claire regrets, Noah becomes obsessive and threatening and Claire allies with her school vice-principal (Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth) in an attempt to save her family and career.

With Rob Cohen (The Fast And The Furious) directing from a clunky script by Barbara Curry, the film morphs from would-be sexy melodrama to harder edged thriller and ends up with a near-horror climax.

Neither star is very physically believable in her/his role and neither manages to imbue his/her character with much in the way of credible emotion.