The Boy Next Door (2015)

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

THE BOY NEXT DOOR is a very predictable example of the psycho-thriller genre with worse and more generic scripting than something like DISTURBIA. It suffers hugely from having Jennifer Lopez as the miscast lead, because she fails to invest her character with any particular personality or wit, and she's entirely unsympathetic to boot. There were only two scenes in the whole film I liked, and the blind date is one of them, but the rest is just ho-hum. As the story's antagonist, Ryan Guzman is laughably out of his depth and entirely unimposing, as well as qualifying for one of the oldest supposed teenagers I've ever seen. The story plays out slowly and predictability, nothing that hasn't been done before, and only picking up in the last ten minutes for a cliched but amusingly violent showdown.

This is not as bad as some of the reviewers make out. I have seen far worse. It is a story that has been told many times before. It is entertaining. The type of movie you grab some popcorn and don't think too hard about. Jennifer Lopez is not a great actress but she is easy on the eye and the film exploits that repeatedly. It has some exciting moments and Ryan Guzman is very menacing in a number of scenes. The ending is a bit unrealistic and some of the dialog cheesy. It won't win awards but as a piece of escapism it was enjoyable.

Nothing original, nothing clever, so predictable. I can't believe money was spent on making something like this. And the title? Couldn't come up with anything else? Sorry but 19 year old boys don't know how to use the words this fellow did to seduce her. Trying too hard to be poetic at that age.You might like it if you like Jennifer Lopez. Such an eye roller...Unless you love the guy in 'Sex and the City', Aiden, Carrie's boyfriend at one point. He acts like a father trying to hard to be a teenager.

This is horrible. Ms. Jennifer Lawrence has gone from one bad movie to the next and I would suggest she stop trying to make movies. Her only appeal in this arena is her sensuality. As for Mr. Guzman, he seems to be on the same career path. He is cute but I think he needs to something with more substance if he plans on making a living at this. I was surprised that John Corbett and Kristen Chenoweth were in this because I like anything either one does. Both of their performances were the most convincing of the group. Otherwise it could have been a porn movie tease. It is not an original plot by a long shot. As has been mentioned in previous posts, there are several movies over the decades that have this same story line and most of them were much better than this.