Susan Granger’s review of “Obsessed” (Sony/Screen Gems)
“It’s every man’s worst nightmare,” said someone behind me. But this predatory psychodrama (which was not screened for critics before it opened) has proven an offering of vicarious thrills at the box-office, particularly the highly-publicized climactic catfight between Beyonce Knowles and Ali Larter.
So here’s the set-up. Derek Charles (Idris Elba) is executive vice-president of a Los Angeles asset-management company that seems to be thriving. (Admittedly, filming took place before the economy tanked.) One day, into the investment office sashays Lisa Sheridan (Ali Larter), a femme fatale. “Temp or temptress?” leers Ben (Jerry O’Connell), one of his associates. Both actually.
Happily married to Sharon (that’s Beyonce), who was his former assistant and is now the mother of their baby son, Derek’s really not interested in adultery. But that doesn’t discourage sultry Lisa, who stalks him into the men’s room at the ‘no-spouses allowed’ office Christmas party, drugs his drink and then pursues him into the parking garage, flashing her lingerie and fishnets. Eventually, she even trashes his home. Why he doesn’t report her obvious sexual harassment and aberrant behavior is never explained, nor are her motives, nor why the detective (Christine Lahti) who’s finally summoned is so clueless.
Obviously inspired by the plot of “Fatal Attraction,” screenwriter David Loughery and veteran TV director Steve Shill skip the adultery factor, veering toward biracial tension instead. That’s a psychologically incendiary area Loughery had previously explored in the inflammatory “Lakeview Terrace.” Also, rumor has it that – if the sets look familiar – they’re recycled from last year’s horror thriller “Quarantine” and will be seen again in the upcoming remake of “The Stepfather.”
Once again, Idris Elba (“The Wire”) proves he’s a fine actor, Ali Larter (“Heroes”) latches onto the psychotic sexy caricature, and Beyonce’s working hard to extend her talents from singing into acting. She’s not there yet, but she certainly tries hard and emerges victorious, at least in hand-to-hand combat. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Obsessed” is a ludicrous 4. Yeah, baby, get that blonde home-wrecker!
