Obsessed (2009 film)

Name	Obsessed
Caption	Theatrical release poster
Director	Steve Shill
Writer	David Loughery
Producer	George FlynnGlenn S. GainorBeyoncé KnowlesEarvin JohnsonMathew Knowles
Distributor	Screen Gems Pictures
Starring	Idris ElbaBeyoncé KnowlesAli Larter
Music	James Dooley
Cinematography	Ken Seng
Runtime	108 minutes
Released
Country
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Gross	$73,830,340

Obsessed is a 2009 thriller film directed by Steve Shill, written by David Loughery, and starring Idris Elba, Beyoncé Knowles, and Ali Larter. The film raises the issue that sexual harassment in the workplace is not only directed towards women, but that men too can be victims. The film was released in theaters in North America on April 24, 2009, and in the UK on May 29, 2009 by Screen Gems Pictures. Filming took place in the summer of 2008.

Plot

Derek Charles (Idris Elba) is the Executive Vice President of Gage Bendix who just recently received a promotion from his boss, Joe Gage (Bruce McGill). He is happily married to his wife Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles), with whom he has a infant son, Kyle (Nathan and Nicolas Myers). At work, Derek's new temp, Lisa Sheridan (Ali Larter), begins to unnerve him. Lisa eventually attempts to seduce Derek, but he repeatedly rejects her advances. Undeterred, Lisa begins to manipulate Derek and Sharon's relationship, eventually becoming violent. Lisa's actions eventually lead her to fake a suicide attempt in Derek's hotel room while he is on a business trip, leaving him no choice but to send her to the hospital. After repeated attempts to reach Derek on his phone Sharon finds Derek at the hospital, and refuses to believe that he didn't sleep with Lisa. Later, Detective Monica Reese (Christine Lahti) interrogates Derek and becomes skeptical of Lisa's claims. Derek and Sharon separate for three months, with Derek moving into his own apartment. Sharon still lets him visit and play with Kyle, but refuses to have any personal communications with him. Detective Reese interrogates Lisa, who lies about her relationship with Derek. Detective Reese then informs Derek that she believes him.

That night, while Derek and Sharon are out reconciling their differences, Lisa breaks in their house and tricks the babysitter Samantha (Scout Taylor-Compton) into letting her in under the pretense of being one of Sharon's friends, eventually fleeing with Kyle while Samantha is distracted. When Derek and Sharon return to their house, Samantha informs them that their friend "Kate" just came by to give Kyle a present. In panic, Derek and Sharon rush to Kyle's room and found out that Kyle has been kidnapped. Derek goes to his car, intending to pursue Lisa, and eventually found Kyle safely sitting in the backseat. Derek and Sharon immediately took Kyle to the hospital to make sure he is okay. Sharon warns Detective Reese that she had better do something about Lisa, or she will do it herself. Back at their house, Derek and Sharon found out that Lisa has trashed their bedroom and removed Sharon's face from all of their family portraits. The next day, Sharon leaves an angry, threatening voice mail on Lisa's phone while Derek listens. Derek and Sharon set up a home alarm system, while Lisa secretly monitors the house from outside. The next day, Lisa learns that Derek and Sharon will be visiting her mother's house, with Sharon leaving that afternoon and Derek the next morning. While Sharon is on her way to pick up Kyle, she calls Derek, who asks her if she set the alarm. She realizes that she forgot and goes back. Meanwhile, Lisa broked into their house. While setting the alarm, Sharon hears Lisa pop a champagne bottle and finds her lying in the master bedroom. Sharon tells Lisa that she is calling the police, but Lisa stops her. Derek calls his house and Lisa answers; Sharon struggles with Lisa to get the phone, head butting her and knocking her down. Derek calls Detective Reese and immediately leaves his office.

Lisa runs to the attic, and Sharon pursues her. Sharon, remembering when Derek showed her a weak spot in the floor, leads Lisa to it, where she falls, hanging onto the edge. Sharon reaches out and grabs Lisa's hand to prevent her from falling, but Lisa pulls Sharon down with her instead of accepting her help. Seeing that the floor is starting to buckle, Sharon pries Lisa off of her arm. Lisa falls onto a chandelier, stopping her fall, but lets go and falls onto the glass table below. Sharon sighs in regret, but Lisa opens her eyes. Lisa begins to rise up just when the wires of the broken chandelier come loose, sending it plummeting down and hitting Lisa, killing her. Derek and Detective Reese arrive as Sharon comes out of the front door. Derek and Sharon embrace and cry in each others' arms while Detective Reese goes inside their house to investigate Lisa's actions.

Cast

Idris Elba as Derek Charles

Beyoncé Knowles as Sharon Charles

Ali Larter as Lisa Sheridan

Jerry O'Connell as Ben

Christine Lahti as Detective Monica Reese

Scout Taylor-Compton as Samantha

Bruce McGill as Joe Gage

Matthew Humphreys as Patrick

Richard Ruccolo as Hank

Ron Roggé as Roger

Nathan and Nicolas Myers as Kyle Charles

Reception

Critical response

The film has received negative reviews from critics. Based on 85 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a "Rotten" rating from critics with 20% of reviews being positive with an average score of 3.7/10. Another review aggreatator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, has given the film an average score of 25, based on 10 reviews. A common complaint about the movie was that unlike most 'deranged stalker'-themed films, Obsessed made no attempt to explain why Lisa was so determined to seduce Derek, who never showed any interest whatsoever in taking her up on her offer. Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News stated, "Unfortunately, the whole movie seems constructed just to get the singer/actress into a knock-down catfight, shoehorning one of show business's entertainers into a scorned-woman role. And even then, the pay-off feels cheap." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film zero stars, stating "Everything you need to know is in the trailer." Beyoncé and Ali Larter both were nominated for Razzie awards for their performances in the film. Beyoncé was also nominated at the Teen Choice Award (Choice Movie Actress: Drama). The Fight Scene between Knowles and Larter won an MTV Movie Award for "Best Fight", it was also nominated for "Choice Movie Rumble" at the Teen Choice Awards. Idris Elba was nominated for an Image Award for his role in the film.

Box office

Despite the bad reviews, the film outpreformed expectations and grossed $11,209,297 on its opening day and ended its opening weekend at the top of the box office, claiming the #1 position with a total of $28,612,730 from 2,514 theaters, averaging $11,381 per venue. As of June 14, 2009, it has grossed a total of $68,470,495 within the U.S. box office. Internationally, the film grossed an additional $3,619,388, gaining a worldwide box office gross of $71,881,032, thus making back its budget times three and making the film a financial success.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Category:2009 films Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:2000s thriller films Category:Directorial debut films Category:Psychological thriller films