Total knockoff (Obsessed (Blu-ray))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Obsessed (Blu-ray)
Date:	30/06/09 (11 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Occasionally amusing

Disadvantages: Everything else

As if there aren't enough of them, Steve Shill brings us another Fatal Attraction knock off, with the added bonus of being a star vehicle for Beyonce Knowles who, let's be honest, hardly needs the extra publicity. The only bonus is that it brings to a bigger audience Idris Elba who, on the fantastic HBO show The Wire, turned in one of the finest TV performances in recent years.

The premise consists of high flying businessman Derek Charles (Elba) being stalked by office temp Lisa Sheridan (Ali Larter), whilst his bemused wife Sharon (Knowles) grows increasingly more jealous and irritating as the film progresses, even asking Derek to fire Lisa because she's too pretty. Lisa, of course, doesn't give up without a fight, and things escalate from obsessive stalking until they begin getting violent, resulting in a rather hilarious bitch brawl between Lisa and Sharon.

The main problems with the film is that it's incredibly derivative, with not a shred of originality in its loins. Also, it's far too self serious considering how absurd it is. If treated as a sort of trashy shlock piece with over the top performances and plotting, it could actually have been mildly enjoyable. Instead, it's just unintentionally amusing, and what director Steve Shill (what an appropriate name) attempts to pass for convincing drama is just stale and stagnant. Moreover, it's way too long at about 100 minutes. At a breezy 90, it still would have been outstaying its welcome, but at least it'd be hard to call it too bloated, as is a very valid description here.

Obsessed barely recieved a UK cinema release at all, and rightly so. This Fatal Attraction knockoff is mostly lacking in bite, with a cliched, absurd plot, and characters that are mostly dislikeable (notably Beyonce Knowles' controlling wife character) and not in any way realistic. The Wire's Idris Elba is expertly squandered in a film he would do best to quickly forget.

Summary: A cliched pot boiler