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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|