The Boy Next Door Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

The Boy Next Door Blu-ray Movie Review

The cliché next door.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 8, 2015

He seems like a nice boy...

Director Rob Cohen's best work -- movies like Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Dragonheart, The Fast and the Furious, and xXx -- are now more than a decade behind him. He's always been, more or less, a mass market sort of director, so there's invariably some feeling of formula to his films. Even with that in mind, his filmography has fallen on rough times of late. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Alex Cross weren't runaway critical successes, and he's hit rock-bottom with the formulaic, mind-numbingly dull, and ever-pointless The Boy Next Door, a pseudo-sensual "Thriller" that merrily works its way through every genre cliché in the book. It's grossly predictable and not in the least bit fun, saved only by a couple of moderately healthy and engaging performances that barely make the movie tolerable. Otherwise, it's "count the seconds, starting with the studio logo, to figure out how long it takes to guess how it will play out." Oh, OK. Already done counting? Good. Move on to the next, and hopefully better, movie.

He's watching. But so are you. Sparks fly...

Soon-to-be-divorcee Claire Peterson (Jennifer Lopez) is a high school English teacher just hoping to get by with her sickly, weak son Kevin (Ian Nelson) at her side. They're surprised when a garage door malfunction reveals their new hero: Noah Sandborn (Ryan Guzman), the handsome 20-year-old nephew of the man who lives next door. He fixes the problem, takes Kevin under his wing, and impresses Claire with his deep knowledge of classic literature. When Kevin goes out of town for the weekend with his father (Garrett Peterson), Claire and Kevin share an intimate moment through their respective bedroom windows. He takes advantage and seduces her. She initially resists but he persists, and the two make love. She instantly regrets it the next morning, though Noah is still savoring the experience. As she tries to distance herself from him, he becomes more obsessed with the idea of having her, leading her through a nightmare of embarrassment and pain that could cost her more than her job, her dignity, or even her sanity.

The Boy Next Door is a dry, basic, formula-driven movie with nary an original bone in its digital body. It goes through all of the usual permutations, and it's so exact in its adherence to genre convention one could set a watch to it. It begins with the innocent meeting and follows with the slow-burn allure, the rainy nighttime gaze through the window, the forced-not-forced encounter, his excitement, her regrets, his obsession, her unease, his stalking, her fear, and the final confrontation. Spoiler? What is there to spoil? Anyone who has seen a trite movie or read a cheap novel knows exactly how The Boy Next Door will play out. At least shake it up, people. Every little piece of the movie, right down to Kevin's EpiPen, is so transparent in purpose that it's not even funny, it's just sad, sad that cinema has devolved into this, a stream of copycat Thrillers with zero creativity, no passion (no real passion anyway) for the process, no insistence on surprising the audience or trying to make sure those hard-earned audience dollars go to a movie that actually gives a damn about at least trying to do something different.

Seeing that the plot flow is made of 100% recycled material, it should come as no surprise that so, too, are the characters. J-Lo's Claire is a soon-to-be divorcee with a few obvious opening for exploitation: her weak son, her love of literature, and on-the-outs relationship. The son is a sickly, shy nobody who needs a male role model who isn't the two-timing father. Enter the young, handsome, muscular, Mr. fix-it who takes a liking to Kevin, who isn't just handy with a wrench (hardy har har), and whose bedroom is conveniently adjacent to hers. Imagine the possibilities. The first junk that comes to mind is exactly where the movie goes. If nothing else, however, the performances satisfy, usually, and at least go with the flow with some feel of character seeping through. Lopez plays the part as straight as possible considering the unending flow of generic character qualities and the unimaginative arc along which she rides for the duration. Ryan Guzman, who favors a young James Franco, manages to play both friendly and sinister well enough, which is more a gradual evolution rather than a balancing act throughout the movie, essentially facilitating the transformation. Ian Nelson plays the timid, sickly kid who grows more confident under Noah's wing very well to the point that he's arguably the movie's best performer, and John Corbett is solid as the father who seems like he's figured it out and wants to stick around. The one glaring weakness comes from Kristin Chenoweth who plays Claire's annoying confidant and an unbelievable assistant school principal.

The Boy Next Door Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

At least it looks good. The Boy Next Door's digitally photographed imagery excels on Blu-ray with a textural quality that nearly passes for film. Image clarity is precise with sharp focus both front-and-center and off to the sides. Details are well defined, down to exacting clothing and facial features, not to mention little bits and odds and ends around Claire's classroom or in a hardware store, two locations seen multiple times throughout the movie. Colors are nicely presented, never too loud or too dull, finding a favorable, natural middle ground, particularly on the pleasing yellow accents seen outside Claire's classroom. Black levels are satisfactorily deep and natural, but flesh tones often push a bit warm. Light noise is sprinkled throughout, but viewers won't find any other eyesores.

The Boy Next Door Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Boy Next Door's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is, sonically, at least, nothing special. It gets the job done with the professionalism and envelopment expected of a new track, but the sound mix isn't particularly robust. The straightforward, dialogue-heavy film offers clearly defined words flowing from the center speaker. Music is generally light with a nice front-end flow but not much in the way of hefty surround support. Several gunshots heard in two scenes in the movie offer baseline cinema definition whereby they're neither aggressively lifelike nor fully puny. The track enjoys a few healthy and mild atmospherics that drift into the back, including light rain and rolling thunder. A few more aggressive sound effects, such as traffic zipping by a car or a raging fire crackling all around the stage, make for the most rawly impressive moments.

The Boy Next Door Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Boy Next Door contains a standard trifecta of extras: a commentary, a making-of, and a collection of deleted scenes. Inside the Blu-ray case, buyers will find a DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy.

• The Making of The Boy Next Door (1080p, 9:17): A broad overview that covers story and themes, character specifics, the blend of entertainment and relevance, Rob Cohen's contributions to the film and his relationship with Lopez, the tight shooting schedule, wardrobe, prioritizing the major car sequences, and making the climax.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Vicky Wants Claire to Help (2:01), Noah Runs Into Claire (3:02), Garrett Asks Claire Out on a Date (1:53), Claire Asks Vicky For a Favor (1:47), and Claire is Angry at Vicky (0:53).
• Audio Commentary: Director Rob Cohen discusses working with Blumhouse Productions, working on a small budget, cast and characters, story flow and details, the film's stylistic and technical details, making the love scene, and more. Cohen does a good job of selling the movie and talking up its characteristics and qualities.

The Boy Next Door Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Boy Next Door is standard nonsense, a dull, predictable, "Thriller" that simply rehashes genre convention for another go-round of pointless cinema. Performances are largely satisfactory but the movie otherwise has nothing going in its favor. Universal's Blu-ray release of The Boy Next Door features top end video, solid audio, and about the most average collection of supplements available. Skip it.