January is known for moving slower than molasses, and the release of quality films during this winter month tends to move at the same pace. Filmmakers over-advertise in the fall, bringing a buzz from social media portals to TV commercials. For months, The Boy Next Door had us all talking and not just about Jennifer Lopez’s dreamy co-star.
Lopez plays Claire, a high school teacher with a son and a cheating husband. In a vulnerable state, she befriends her neighbor, 19-year-old Noah (Ryan Guzman). A one-time affair ensues, leaving Claire distraught and regretful, but Noah takes things to the next level–stalking her to the point where a power outage and a butcher knife prove how grade-A psychotic he is.
Though this $4 million movie was a mediocre-at-best thriller, it had me hooked since I first saw the trailer back in October. Lopez is a triple-threat, but I’m especially a fan of her acting. My favorite movie of hers is not Maid In Manhattan, but her 2002 thriller Enough. I wasn’t surprised to see her do another thriller, but I was surprised by the story line she participated in.
Many actors in Hollywood have been shedding their traditional roles, trying to break out of their early 2000s chick-flick typecasting, but for what? Reese Witherspoon didn’t need to go makeup-less and rip off her toenail in the middle of the forest in Wild for me to take her seriously. Same for Jennifer Aniston, who also went makeup-less and yelled too loud in Cake, or Steve Carell, who added more makeup in Foxcatcher. Challenges can be accepted, but when they’re not immediately awarded with an Oscar or even a nomination, it just gives these actors another excuse to make headlines again about why they were snubbed.
People across the country raise their eyebrows when a film about an older woman and her affair with a teenager hits theaters instead of the Lifetime cable channel. Counts of sexual assault against female teachers and their students sweep national news weekly. “Disgusting,” we say to ourselves, yet we’re still intrigued to read just a little more of the article. The Boy Next Door intrigued me because someone was taking a risk and making a blockbuster out of a taboo topic.
Lopez made a bold move accepting the role of Claire and shedding the image we all knew her as: singer, dancer, American Idol judge and chick-flick actress. Though this movie was an average thriller, playing the role of a mother who sleeps with a 19 year old was something many of us were surprised to see. I both respected and enjoyed Lopez in The Boy Next Door, as she pushed her limits as an actress, proving that she is much more than Jenny from the Block.