I originally wasn’t going to write a review this weekend because it was pretty slim pickens at the box office, but I was so bored Sunday that I broke down and caught a matinee of Obsessed. What do you get when you put two of Hollywood’s worst actresses, Beyoncé Knowles and Ali Larter in the same movie? You get a surprisingly decent little paint by the numbers thriller. Now in Beyonce’s defense she’s a great singer who is desperately trying to be an actress, Ali has no defense, she’s beautiful eye-candy but even that wore thin a long time ago. My initial issue with Obsessed is that, based on the trailers I knew exactly what kind of movie this was and there was no way it was going to surprise me, I would probably like it on DVD but to spend real money and time seeing it in a theater. Nah, no way. But like I said it was either this, "Fighting," or nothing. I originally chose nothing.
Once you get past how this is a paint by the numbers affair with an ending that you see a mile away, it is a really nice glossy looking film that clearly had a nice size budget and cool soundtrack. Downtown LA looks as shiny and plastic as ever. Why is it whenever I’m in LA the city looks dirty, dingy, and kind of disgusting? The problem I have with the crazy, delusional woman movie cliché is that I never buy into the obsession. There’s no reason for Lisa (Ali Larter) to instantly become obsessed with Derek (Idris Elba). I mean yeah he’s a great looking, successful Executive Vice President of a major financial institution and an awesome guy on top of everything else, but for her to fall for him the instant she sees him in an elevator? I’m a skeptic, I don’t believe in love at first sight. But again, Lisa’s a crazy…. Which is how writer David Loughery explains every implausible thing Lisa does. After awhile I didn’t question anything, I just said, "Oh yeah, right, Lisa’s a crazy…."
Director Steve Shill (primarily a television show director) takes a big chance resting an entire movie on the performance of Ali Larter and Beyonce Knowles. And both actresses actually rise to the occasion. I don’t think either one of them really have a good on-screen presence but Larter really makes this role work for her. The pacing was just about right, scenes didn’t feel overly long and we didn’t have to put up with long doses of either Knowles or Larter. Just when you start thinking, oh god how much longer is this movie, the scene moves to another character. While Obsessed is about Larter’s character, we get her in "seemingly" small doses. She sashays into a scene and then leaves for awhile but her presence is always felt. Lots of shots of her just standing around in the office and preening before the camera, not much of her actually talking (which is a good thing). The inevitable confrontation between Sharon (Beyonce) and Lisa is a decent catfight. I would have liked it to be more over the top violent, other than that, this movie is exactly what you would expect it to be.
Final Grade B-
EM Review
By Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 04.26.09
