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Critics Consensus: The Boy Next Door may get a few howls out of fans of stalker thrillers, but for most viewers, it won't even rise to "so bad it's good" status.
Critic Consensus: The Boy Next Door may get a few howls out of fans of stalker thrillers, but for most viewers, it won't even rise to "so bad it's good" status.
All Critics (133) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (119)
Abundantly silly ...
Jennifer Lopez has serious beefcake issues in this lazy, low-budget, not-as-much-fun-as-it-should-be potboiler.
It's all hilariously ridiculous, but bless J.Lo for trying her mightiest to sell it. If someone's going to bring sultriness to suburbia, it might as well be Jenny from the Block.
I haven't seen a bigger mess in wide release since Dana Carvey's career-terminating The Master of Disguise.
There are many grades of terrible in Hollywood, and this is pretty nearly the worst.
It's badly directed, poorly edited, and features some of the most unconvincing acting this side of a soup commercial.
It's the kind of movie that probably could have been at least entertaining if it was a little more campy, but the dead serious tone makes it rather dreadful.
...in an awards season filled with existential crises and heavy historical dramas, maybe [The Boy Next Door] exactly the fun, sexy break we all need.
Mostly, [The Boy Next Door] takes a disingenuous road to a conventional destination.
Overall, the low-budgeted The Boy Next Door simply fills in the cheesy blanks with its amateurish jitters. With the baseless Boy added to her film credits it appears that Jenny was never on the block.
The Boy Next Door is not a total travesty as Lopez gives it her all and the film is fairly entertaining for all of its nutty character leaps.
I kinda dug this movie, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. In a season filled with overpraised Oscar bait and genuinely wretched winter releases, such unfettered abandon is worth celebrating.
The Hollywood pitch for this movie was probably something like... "it's Fatal Attraction but instead of a married man being stalked it's America's favorite MILF, Jennifer Lopez." If that sounds crude... well... so is this movie. Crude in its script and production. It's too bad that the subject matter - a middle-aged woman allows herself to be seduced by a high school student - wasn't taken more seriously. Instead, everything is played for cheap thrills and the movie can't even deliver those.
Super Reviewer
Jennifer Lopez stars in The Boy Next Door, a mediocre psychological thriller. After separating from her husband a lonely housewife named Claire Peterson has an illicit affair with a young man who's recently moved in next door to take care of his infirmed uncle; but when Claire tries to break off the relationship he becomes obsessive and violent. It's really a formulaic plot, and the characters are little more than clichéd stereotypes. Additionally, the performances are piss-poor; especially Lopez. However, Rob Cohen's directing is pretty good: bringing tension to the scenes and creating a sinister undertone. While it's able to deliver a few thrills, The Boy Next Door is a generic and uninspired film.
I was really looking forward to seeing this as I love a good psycho thriller. I have liked a few of Jennifer Lopez's movies too over the years. Wow. So glad I rented this before buying. How disappointing. Though the ingredients are all there, it just doesn't quite work. It's not scary, the guy isn't that convincing. And the ending is abrupt. Other movies in this genre are so much better. Even the much criticised Swimfan was better than this. Much better. I don't know, maybe I like it better when it's a crazy girl doing this crap.
View my full thoughts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC3rnTO1IL4 What happened to you Rob Cohen? Dating back to the early days of the 2000's, he began his feature film career with "The Fast and the Furious," and only going downhill from there, he directs this film in one of his weakest attempts yet. Being shot in only 25 days, "The Boy Next Door" follows a teacher who is going through a rough patch with a cheating husband and a son who get's picked on in school. When a new kid moves in with his uncle next door, a little fling slowly turns into an obsession between them and so the cliched plot ensues. This film is one of the worst films to come out in a while and I have no recollection of any mildly enjoyable moments throughout this film. I mean sure, if you are drunk with some friends you will laugh your ass off at the bombastic plot twists and terrible acting, but that does not make this a good film. Jennifer Lopez is nothing special, Ryan Guzman was fun in the "Step Up" films, but he has lost his touch as well. Dull filmmaking, horrible script-writing, and acting that is incredibly wooden, "The Boy Next Door" is an atrocious picture. Stay away.
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