Careful What You Wish For

If you're a boy teenager with a hard-on, go for it - enjoy the shower scene, especially.

If you're a juvenile looking for mild mental stimulation with one eye on another screen, it's passable.

If you're as old as I am then you'll quickly suss this is a regurgitated plot based on the classic film 'Body Heat' (1981) with William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. I continued watching just to see how close to the wind they sailed. And yep, I suggest you cut your losses and immerse yourself in the original.

Plus ça change ...

Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum's generically titled 'Careful What You Wish For' is a painfully average erotic thriller that's light on eroticism and even lighter on thrills. The movie wallows in the genre's tropes without escalating them beyond the familiar. The lack of originality and effort ultimately sinks the picture, but not before the reveal of an absurd twist ending that feels more ridiculous than shocking. Both Nick Jonas and Isabel Lucas are decent but the adulterous relationship that's at the heart of the film is never very credible, let alone sizzling, due to there's not much chemistry between them.

First, let me tell you that wishing for this movie to be good will be of no avail. There's no reason in hoping for a satisfying thriller like this one seems to claim, because doing so will only lead to a massive letdown.

CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR's biggest flaw is neither its premise nor its narrative. There's a lot to negatively comment about those two areas, but they're still much more tolerable than the movie's horrible casting. None of the actors are able to serve the requirements of their roles, and while their characters hold promise of being interesting, none of the performers could actually pull them excellently, even to a tolerable level. Their dialogues and the overly familiar plot, are partly to blame, but it so difficult to jump to that part when the first thing that can be noticed is the horrible designation of the actors to roles utterly unsuited for them. There's this evil psychopath named Elliot who never really brings as much threat as he is required. Letting Isabel Lucas play a role that doesn't fit her age is perhaps the biggest mistake in the casting. Even with her capacity fully stretched, Lucas is never able to get halfway meeting all the demands of her character. Her character, Lena, is supposed to be a devious and cunning femme fatale, Isabel Lucas is plain boring. Almost the same can be said with Nick Jonas, although it's really hard to say his role's totally garbage, when almost half the time he's confused and waiting for a good line to throw. If it's any consolation, there's a lot of skin shown here, and I'm pretty sure Nick's fans as well as Isabel's will be pleased. Other than that, there's really nothing to expect.

It is really difficult to follow the narrative's flow when all that worries you is whether the characters are still going to be something interesting or not. The plot isn't new either, and it still could have been interesting, if the characters are played the way they're supposed to be. These flaws accrue to an overall feeling that is neither good nor okay, much less satisfying. Albeit cliché, CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR could have been an enjoyable experience. There is so much to mine in its premise, but its terrible casting paralyzes the movie and made itself incapable of digging such potential. The result is an overwhelming sense of dissatisfaction.

Careful What You Wish For is a good case study in the failings inherent in the Hollywood star system. The film is essentially star vehicle that is produced well but which fails to deliver anything substantial due to the lackluster performances of its leading actors around whom the film has been structured.

Nick Jonas plays Doug Martin, an adolescent without personality who falls for the gorgeous Lena Harper (Isabel Lucas), a married woman with a dark and devious plan to make big bucks fast. As a leading lady, Lucas does nothing more than showing us her very skinny body as she seduces her way into Jonas' very silly heart.

The film, directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosen, is not essentially a bad product. Rosen's direction is competent, the cinematography is pretty, editing is tight, the script holds up alright, and the production itself is of a good quality. There is a solid story arch that held my interest till the end. And it is a nice star vehicle for Lucas and Jonas. But the supposed stars have a very limited acting ability, even at the hands of a director who has a good grasp of her craft born from a long and stable career in television.

Unfortunately, all the potential of this film is lost through a leading couple who never quite arrive as the stars in the vehicle. Unless you are interested in learning from the mistakes made by Lucas and Jonas, you can safely give it a miss.

Direction: 6||Acting: 2||Cinematography: 7||Concept and delivery: 4|

This thriller stars Isabel Lucas, Nick Jonas, Dermot Mulroney, Paul Sorvino and Kandyse McClure. In short, this is another "someone's a murderer" movie + a Jonas brother.

I'm not a Jonas brother fan, but Nick did surprise me, he wasn't great but he wasn't as awful as I expected him to be. That being said, it's a good thing that Dermot Mulroney wasn't present in most of the movie because the six time award- winning actor might have out shined his co-star Nick

Isabel Lucas, although stunning, looks a little strange and unnatural with Nick. Regardless of this, she does have the voice, emotionless expression and body language of a classic James Bond girl in the beginning. This works for her as it suits the character she portrays but also might make it look like she cannot act. It would be interesting to see her in something else.

I should also mention that the plot is unfortunately un-original and somewhat predictable through half the movie. The acting of certain co-stars such as Kandyse McClure also leaves much to be desired. Maybe that's why this site and other sites, don't even mention her. That said if you're a Jonas fan you'll like this.