Obsessed (2009)

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Well the review title says it all. Man oh man. Yes it has been pointed out in other reviews that Sharon never even stops to hear Dereks side of the story - If one were to bump into Beyonce and mention this movie surely she would cringe and hide. She plays an overtly jealous Biatch. The one thing that would have improved on this movie would have been some empathy. There must have been a point were Sharon really realises that she made a mistake about her 'Under the thumb' hubby. This 'realisation' would have made a dramatic turning point to this otherwise laughable 'B' grade TV movie. Thus setting the tone for what was yet to unravel. Sadly either it never happened or the moment was so short it was not noteworthy. This movie was bad in every sense of the word. Save yourself the time and go do some weeding instead.

I was first attracted to this film by the members of the cast, then I read more about this film, I knew it had low reviews by the critics, but I was still willing to give it a chance and see why it was apparently bad. Basically Derek Charles (Idris Elba) is a successful asset manager for a private finance company, he is happily married to beautiful wife Sharon (Razzie nominated Beyoncé Knowles, also producing) and they have a baby son. While Derek is at work, he meets temporary worked Lisa Sheridan (Razzie nominated Ali Larter), she believes Derek was flirting with her and attempts to seduce her, he repeatedly rejects her, but Lisa continues to pursue him, including making a sexual advance at the Christmas party and flashing him in his car. Derek intends to report Lisa to human resource management, but he finds out she has already quit, thinking she has given up he is shocked to receive flirtatious emails. Derek and his workmates attend a conference at a resort, he spots and confronts Lisa, he has no idea that she has spiked his drink, incapacitated and helpless he returns to his hotel room, Lisa has followed him and rapes him. Derek confronts Lisa again the next day and persists that there is nothing between them, hours later he is shocked to discover her naked in his bed and has attempted suicide overdosing on drugs, he calls emergency services and she recovers in hospital. Sharon finds Derek at the hospital after repeatedly trying to call him, Detective Monica Reese (Christine Lahti) in front of Derek and Sharon says that Lisa is claiming they had an affair, but she is sceptical of Lisa's claims, due to inconsistencies, she believes Derek, but Sharon refuses to believe Derek and throws him out. Months later Derek and Sharon meet for dinner, for his birthday, they begin to reconcile, meanwhile Lisa tricks babysitter Samantha (Scout Taylor-Compton) into letting her into the house as a friend of Sharon's, returning home Derek and Sharon are shocked that Lisa has seemingly abducted their son Kyle (twins Nathan and Nicolas Myers), but Derek finds him in the backseat of his car. Kyle is checked over at hospital and has not been harmed, but returning home Derek and Sharon find Lisa has trashed their bedroom and removed Sharon's face from a family portrait, Sharon calls Lisa and leaves a threatening voice message , and for extra protection they set up a home alarm system. Lisa learns from a work colleague that Derek and Sharon will be going away for a few days, Sharon leaves the house and forgets to activate the alarm, so Lisa breaks in and decorates the bedroom with rose petals, returning home to set the alarm Sharon hears Lisa. Sharon confronts Lisa, who claims that Derek and her were seeing each other, the two women get into a rough fistfight, Derek calls and Lisa answers, he calls Detective Reese and they head to the house. Lisa and Sharon end up in the weak spot of the attic floor, Lisa falls through, Sharon tries to help her, but Lisa tries to pull her down with her, after a squabble Lisa finally falls onto the glass table below, and the chandelier falls from the ceiling and kills Lisa. Detective Reese arrives as Sharon is walking out of the house, she goes in to investigate, and Derek arrives and the married couple tearfully embrace each other. Also starring Jerry O'Connell as Ben and Bruce McGill as Joe Gage. Elba (after The Wire and before Luther) gives a wet performance as the man tortured by the obsessed woman, Knowles is only on screen for the obvious bits and tries and fails with her feisty attitude, and Larter is unfortunately laughable as the deluded stalker bitch who will not give up getting the married man. I can definitely see the comparison to Fatal Attraction, same sort of plot, but it is chockablock with clichés, the white blonde woman pursuing the African-American married man is different, but the acting and script is like something out of a bad soap opera, and it just feels hysterical and ludicrous, it is a terrible psychological thriller. Pretty poor!

Obsessed (2009): Dir: Steve Shill / Cast: Idris Elba, Ali Larter, Beyonce Knowles, Jerry O'Connell, Scout Taylor-Compton: Formula dreck about the pursuits of the forbidden. Ali Larter plays a temp who pursues a married man before the obvious sets in. Predictable and over the top with the concluding cat fight we know will happen. And who is surprised when the bad attic flooring plays a factor? Idris Elba is the one performance that holds strong. He plays a guy caught up in a web of seduction that he attempts to prevent but all fails. Larter is stunning as the villainess but the role is too predictable and a bigger pain in the ass to viewers who are no doubt annoyed with the screenwriter's juvenile tactics for thrills. Even when Larter meets her dismiss it is met with laughter. Beyonce Knowles as Elba's wife is another predictable role. She will suspect foul play, kick her husband out, then realize the truth before opening up a can of whoop-ass on Larter. Jerry O'Connell is cardboard as a co-worker who no doubt wishes he had the same action with Larter that he had in Tomcats with a female dressed as a librarian. This film has been done many times and it doesn't improve with this crap. Directed by Steve Shill with fine location shots. It never addresses the idea of sexual harassment from a serious standpoint. Instead it becomes obsessed with being a laugh out loud geek show. Score: 3 ½ / 10

Derek Charles (Idris Elba) is a successful asset manager with beautiful wife Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles) and toddler son Kyle. There's the new temp Lisa (Ali Larter) in the office. The office keeps her around as his secretary. She becomes obsessed with him and then she gets handsy at the Christmas party. Ben (Jerry O'Connell) is his co-worker. Joe Gage (Bruce McGill) is his boss. Police detective Reese (Christine Lahti) investigates the case.Steve Shill is a TV director and that's the sense I get from this movie. He keeps hitting the audience over the head with Ali Larter flirting. It's obsessive. It would be so much better to have both people flirt. Idris Elba is playing it like a saint. It doesn't work. This is what HR is for. The movie makes no sense. The girl be crazy. I'd call the cops right after HR. He needs to do that in case she starts making accusations. I don't get this reluctance unless there was a previous case of him cheating. The story needs something to explain his actions. Why keep trying to explain it to a crazy person? It's just bad writing. Even a big cat fight can't save the really really bad writing.