‘Obsessed’ finds happy couple parting ways due to temptation of adulteress
Derek Chapman (Idris Elba) has it all. He has just received a major promotion and landed a multi-million dollar client.
He has a beautiful wife and son, and has recently moved into his dream home. So how could anyone change all that?
The answer: Derek is too nice and the new temporary office worker is “Obsessed” with him.
That must be where they got the name for this movie.
It is much less trite than the working title, “Oh No She Didn’t,” which would have kept most people from taking it seriously. At least “Obsessed” has a fighting chance.
Beyonce Knowles plays the lovely Sharon Chapman, who was Derek’s secretary before she became his wife.
This is the reason no one finds it unusual when the new temp begins a flirtation and acts as if Derek is interested in her.
After all, the office is where he found one perfect wife, why not another?
While this Sony release is reminiscent of the earlier movie in this genre, “Fatal Attraction,” and is somewhat predictable, several twists make it interesting nonetheless.
The first oddity is that Derek is faithful to his wife. He is a kind person, so he is not rude to the antagonistic Lisa, played by Ali Larter. He tries to make it clear he wants no part of an affair, but he doesn’t report her sexual overtures when he has the chance.
He also doesn’t tell his wife, which is a greater mistake.
For an otherwise intelligent man, he shows poor judgment when dealing with an attractive stalker.
In other words, Derek is a handsome wuss and his failure to act almost costs him everything he has.
Derek’s personal assistant Patrick (Matthew Humphreys) is a homosexual chatterbox who gives out too much information to the temporary help.
Apparently Derek is trying to keep all temptation away from his office by having a gay man as his secretary.
This backfires when Lisa befriends Patrick and gets all the information she needs to stalk Derek and his family.
Derek and Sharon are supposed to be a blissfully happy couple and yet when her husband is put in a questionable light, Sharon tells him to get out of the house rather than believe him.
He has done nothing and yet the fact that a crazy white woman makes it seem like he cheated is the reason for him to lose his wife, house and his job.
Larter plays the part of a psychopath so well that much of the audience was actually yelling remarks at the screen.
While some of the remarks cannot be printed, the gist is that she needs to be put in her place in no uncertain terms, or slapped silly. Well, you get the idea. Knowles redeems herself as an actress in the final scenes of this movie.
She is raw and realistic as a woman protecting her family.
The confrontation between her and Larter is worth sitting through the rest of the 105-minute film to see.
Rated PG13 for sexual content and language, this is not a first-date movie if you want a second date.
It seems to evoke much emotion in women, and some of it is not attractive. A good chick flick.
Rating: B
—Cynthia Praefke
Staff Writer
