The Boy Next Door

This movie is really nothing we haven't seen before: A woman on the brink of divorce has an affair with her younger next door neighbor and, afterward, wants nothing more to do with the man. As a result, the neighbor gets violent and stalks her.

It is a fast-pace thriller with steamy love scenes and quick action sequences. However, the plot is predictable and the acting is sub-par at best. For a movie called, "The Boy Next Door," there should be more suspense and plot twists that lead up to the title role, rather than a one-time encounter that basically reveals almost immediately who the antagonist is.

It's not a entirely bad movie to pass the time with; however, you will find much more suspenseful and captivating thriller than this one.

Grade C-

This is bad in the conventional sense where characters develop and we get insights, deliriously entertaining in the improbable trashy sense, as other J Lo thrillers have been. A smoldering boy moves in next door, he goes to the same school as J Lo's son where she's a teacher; a night of sex upsets balances.

The appeal is that we can have an assault on suburban normalcy, a titilating dismantling of normalcy; for example he fills a classroom with photocopies of their coupling and she has to scoop it up while pupils are about to come in any moment. Brakes on a car have been tampered with, he has kept a video, shenanigans just pile on and we watch in sardonic amusement as it gets more unhinged; it ends in one swoop with people getting shot and crushed by a winch.

On J Lo's end of things it's an opportunity for someone here to claim that the film empowers women and for us to arrive at the moral of the story, that mistakes happen and people deserve a second chance. I'll take the refreshing erotic thriller nonsense of this kind over juvenile Marvel races to save the world.

This movie has no point, no interesting Plot. You could tell this movie was gonna be bad just by looking at the trailer. Not even if it was the only thing on TV, I would never watch this movie ever again.

I want to forget this movie even exists, I want it erased from my memory. This movie is one of those movies where the actors just accept the movie just for the money without any purpose. Anyway I don't recommend this at all, please don't waste your time on this I'm telling you ahead of time if you haven't seen it. I don't care if it's early 2015, this is the worst movie of the year and if it get's an Oscar I'm deleting myself from this Earth.

My friend and I had a blast at this movie last Friday, but not for the reason you would expect. We literally laughed through the entire film - and what was even more fun was that the entire theater was laughing, too. The dialogue and plot were so thin and badly written, and the intense scenes so implausible, that it was hilarious. As the movie ended, I think all of us sat staring at the screen wondering if that really was the ending - that the credits were about to prove it was all over - that me, my friend, and the entire theater, cracked up all over again.

So, I have absolutely no regrets about paying money to see it. It was fun in its own right.

Of course, this is a bad movie. Yet, there are plenty of guilty pleasures to behold here. When I say it's bad, I didn't say I didn't enjoy it. I mean, there's a lot of potential going on. Unfortunately, it leads to a bit disappointing finale. But, it is salvaged by an amount of suspense before the ensuing chaos.

At first, J.Lo... why did she even bother signing on this? I thought that this is too low even for her standards. But, later on, I think that she's pretty committed on doing this role. So, I decided to lay back and enjoy the ride.

Then, along came Ryan Guzman, as the so-called "Boy Next Door". Hmmm... He did a pretty fine job. When the tension ratchets up, he looks threatening convincingly, despite what critics say about his performance.

The supporting casts are good as well. Kristin Chenoweth stood out for me, adding comic relief and zing along the way.

My main criticism is the script. Not only it's a bit sloppy, almost made-for-TV writing, but it falters in the end. There are some characters' action including Lopez's, that's nonsensical and... stupid, actually.

When it comes to nonsensical and stupid, I just wished they would close it with being campy and over-the-top. It doesn't truly reached that level and the result is only a half-baked mess.

But, all those flaws don't matter too much because Rob Cohen's direction are superior than most of his movies, especially his last offering "Alex Cross", although it's his fault too.

For a movie released in January, it's better than expected. But, for a real nerve-wracking thriller, don't get your hopes up too high.

Just watch it for pure brainless entertainment without much to think about. It's not that bad...