Mala influencia

This movie wanted to be better than it was - desperately.

The two protagonists - Eros and Reese - are the archetypal "Bad Boy and Good Girl." However, their depictions could not have been more lackluster if they tried.

Eros is the furthest from a bad boy I've seen in a long while. Even trying to make the actor ride a motorcycle and go to jail still did not help this man make Eros the bad boy he was intended to be.

I think the largest issue with his character is that we only know pieces of him. We are never given the whole story. Even when Reese tries to ask him questions, he completely dismisses her. Which ultimately made him more aloof and standoffish than a bad boy.

As for Reese, while the good girl act was portrayed fair enough, she was completely lacking in depth. Other than knowing she dances ballet, we are given nothing else about what she loves to do or what she aspires to be when she's older. While they do show us her performing ballet, there's never a part in the movie where she says, "dancing is my passion." Thus, resulting in her being completely one-dimensional.

Due to these character choices, when they eventually "love" one another, to me, it is completely unfathomable. It is genuinely nothing more than infatuation.

This is proven further during intense scenes where Reese's life is put at risk, and Eros doesn't even react, much less show he cares. Even her father is completely emotionless throughout her stalking and bullying harassment.

So, how are we to believe that they love her when they don't show it during her hardships?

Lastly, aside from the uninspired love interests, the plot itself is severely flawed. Though some things are "resolved," like her stalker, the reasoning behind why it happened doesn't make any real sense. It seriously could not have been less thought-out. In addition, her bullying was completely unresolved...we never find out why it happened in the first place, much less get the satisfying retribution to those who had been harassing her. Resulting in the end being completely unsatisfying.

And, that's what this movie was in one word: unsatisfying. I hate to say it, but I cannot imagine anyone liking this. I cannot truly find ONE redeemable facet about it. It was simply bad.

I watched the movie, expecting it to be similar to 'Through My Window' or 'My Fault' both of which I quite enjoyed. This, however...I have no idea what this even was. The beginning looked promising, if a little absurd, but as the movie moved (or should I say dragged) forward the story became lamer and lamer and it became obvious, that it wouldn't even come close to what I was expecting. The dialogues, along with the plot were emotionless and often very random, the ending was rushed and empty. When the movie ended I sat in silence, trying to process what had I just watched. If you only take one advice from me, let it be this one: this movie is a pointless watch. It has little to no depth, and you won't ever get back that 1h48min you'd spent watching it. A big let down in my opinion.

I've seen some bad movies in my life, but this one? This one is a masterclass in chaos. It's not that I'm a film snob-heck, I'm a Vampire Diaries fan, so my standards are flexible-but even I have limits.

Who funded this? Who read the script and said, "Yes, let's go all in"? I have questions.

The leads have the chemistry of two damp sponges. The romance? I've felt more sparks watching two strangers avoid eye contact on public transport.

The scenes are stitched together like a school project-using glitter glue and confusion. Plot points pop up like they matter, then vanish forever. Emotional arcs? Character growth? Not here, honey.

And then there's the ending. The glorious, baffling, award-winningly terrible ending. It's as if the writers said, "Surprise! None of this made sense anyway," and just walked off the set.

Save your time. Or don't-maybe you need a new low bar to appreciate other films.

Mala Pelicula would have been a more appropriate name for this film. Look, I went into Mala Influencia expecting scandal, suspense, maybe a dramatic betrayal or two-and what I got was an over-filtered fever dream that thinks it's smarter than it is. If you've ever wondered what would happen if a Lifetime movie and an Instagram influencer's highlight reel had a baby, this is it.

The leads do their best, but they're let down by dialogue that sounds like it was pulled from a TikTok argument and plot twists that can be spotted from a mile away. The pacing drags in the middle and rushes the ending, leaving key motivations murky and unresolved.

Mala Influencia: Yes.

I'm speechless. How can something like this ever made it to Netflix?

Rich Girl, Bad Boy, a parent that's against everything, a plot that isn't even worth the name plot, weird dialogues and choices made by (shallow) characters that don't make any sense, 2000 scenes weirdly cut together so you get every cliché out of every 'romance' story that ever existed...

I'm not sure who got paid for putting that on Netflix, but yeah, here it is.

I really feel deeply sorry for the actors (and the guys behind the cameras) who at least tried to make it a story that you want to watch. But no chance with that kind of writing...

Thank God I fell asleep for the last 20 minutes, at least something positive.