We’ve all been there: that awkward moment when you know you’ve got to break it off with someone. They don’t want to give up, you’re already planning a two-week holiday to Ibiza with your mates – it happens to us all. What doesn’t happen to most is that the dumpee turns into an overly-dramatic stalker. That seems to happen mostly to Jennifer Lopez, as the schmokin’ hot singer-dancer-actress is once again the victim of a creepy ex-shag buddy in the trailer for The Boy Next Door.
The story unravels as you’d expect. Lopez plays a teacher whose husband – Aidan from Sex And The City – is a cheat who likes to leave his family whenever the fancy takes him. At her lowest ebb, she’s immediately drawn to her neighbour’s nephew, Noah (Step Up‘s Ryan Guzman). It’s no wonder. A chiselled physique and deep, pensive eyes, he’s the antithesis to her bastard husband. With their clothes left in fireman style piles, the pair are soon at it like rabbits. It’s only a matter of time before she has an epiphany: maybe sleeping around with an underage chap might be a bit irresponsible. After all, we’re supposed to despise her husband for the very same thing.
Unfortunately, the trailer spells out the final act of the film. That is, if you haven’t already guessed. She wants to break it off – he doesn’t. Cue: his transformation into a stalker who threatens her life, etc, etc. The spurned lover-turned-bonkers genre has had its day. From the original bunny boiler herself, Glenn Close, to this latest J-Lo outing, there’s more movies about sour exes than there are notches on Wolverine’s bedpost. But will The Boy Next Door have a surprise, killer twist? Who knows.
Directed by Rob Cohen (Fast & The Furious), The Boy Next Door is set to open on January 23rd.