Obsessed

Steve Shill
2009

If you're willing to accept a few key suspensions of disbelief, Steve Shill's "Obsessed" could make for a tight little thriller. I for one was not. Idris Elba and Beyonce enjoy marital bliss in a new home bought with Elba's hefty salary (he works in investments), until nutty temp Ali Larter begins mucking up the works with her psychotic infatuation with La Knowles's husband. It's the toothless PG-13 "Fatal Attraction" (1987), avoiding the sticky (read satisfyingly complex) issue of male infidelity, and instead burying it's head in stylish camera moves, and ultra modern production design. Elba and Larter put in solid performances, the former a believable cocksure executive and the latter a hot mess of bonkers. Unfortunately there's little else here to enjoy besides eye candy. This reviewer noticed halfway through that Beyonce's not much of an actress despite her strong screen presence, and the supporting characters are straight from central casting (a homo secretary, boozy boss, and fucking Jerry O'Connell as the classic dickhead office-buddy. The script tries hard to hedge it's bets on difficult-to-swallow plot points, but the inability of Elba to come clean to his wife, the inability of Beyonce to calm down and trust her husband, and the initially legitimate but quickly ludicrous fear that Larter could legally harm Elba through lying becomes much to much. Throw in a weak girlfight finale and a weaker detective character, and you've got a flick so safe you could feed it to your infant.