| 'You call this a thriller? Beyoncé Knowles vehicle Obsessed is almost completely void of suspense
C
| OBSESSED
Now playing
A racially-minded variant of Fatal Attraction, Obsessed's stakes are so low for so long that when executive producer/actress Beyoncé Knowles finally begins to kick ass to protect her child from a psychopath, the jarring shift in tone makes for scenes that feel like they're from another, better movie.
Derek (Idris Elba) is a successful businessman in a management firm whose life couldn't be more idyllic. He and his former secretary, Sharon (Knowles), are married with a young child and a lavish home afforded by a recent promotion.
Life couldn't be more agreeable - until a temp named Lisa (Ali Larter) begins to make sexual advances to Derek, making work more than slightly uncomfortable, especially when Sharon stops by.
After Lisa molests Derek at an office Christmas party, he still doesn't wise up and tell anyone that a psychotic stalker is disrupting the fabric of his domesticated life. The final straw comes when Lisa slips a roofie in Derek's drink during a weekend business retreat.
The coincidences that soon pile up handily prevent him from outing Lisa: he arrives home to find his wife despondent over her sister's husband's infidelities. Later on, his best friend, Ben (Jerry O'Connell), advises not to confess as Derek's a known ladies' man; after all, the last woman who was his secretary is now his wife.
Tediously directed by British TV vet Steve Shill and written by David Loughery (last year's Lakeview Terrace), Obsessed is a tame affair neutered of any suspense. Take, for instance, the flimsy, pulse-raising set-piece that involves multiple browsers featuring a nearly nude Lisa needing to be expediently closed.
Beyonce's surprisingly underwritten Sharon is hip to Lisa's game almost from their first, brief interaction, despite Derek not catching on until she's literally grabbing onto his crotch. When infidelities between the two are later suggested, Sharon doesn't for an instant question the validity of the allegations.
With its theme of reverse sexual harassment, Obsession falls somewhere in between of David Mamet's provocative Oleanna and the trashy, insipid Disclosure.
Elba (TV's The Wire) underplays his role as the confident man who has it all, allowing Larter's sexually-charged temptress and Knowles' sensitive, appealing wife to take centre-stage.
It's Shill's lacklustre direction that finally does in Obsessed .
By subtracting any tension-building and keeping Beyonce's moment of vengeance under wraps until the very end, the movie refuses to give viewers the thrills it promises.
— Aaron Graham |
Uptown
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