Most films spend far too long setting the scene, when all they really need to bring audiences into the fold is a single, perfectly characteristic moment. The Boy Next Door, a new thriller produced by and starring Jennifer Lopez (last seen unenthusiastically twerking in the general direction of the zeitgeist) understands this better than most.
Less than 15 minutes into its running time, the film lays its cards firmly on the table, as Lopez’s put-upon classics teacher Claire begins an illicit romance with local teen heartthrob, Noah. In a scene that surely sets the mould for what’s to come, Claire’s muscled (and soon-to-be maniacal) new beau presents her with an impromptu gift: a “first edition” of Homer’s The Iliad.
The ancient Greek epic poem is believed to have been written some time around 750BC, more than two millennia before the invention of the printing press, which makes Noah’s purchase of this original for “a buck at a garage sale” all the more remarkable. The historical implausibility of the prop has provoked much debate online, with the film’s screenwriter Barbara Curry shifting responsibility for the scene on to director Rob Cohen, who for his part insists that the book is in fact a first edition, albeit of a more recent reprint of Homer’s opus.
If you ask me, both Curry and Cohen are needlessly modest. The scene, far from a lapse in judgment, is clearly an audacious indication to the audience that the world of The Boy Next Door is one entirely distinct from our own – a universe that operates in mysterious ways that we may never fully understand. In this world, Noah is “almost 20”, despite looking like a grizzled former member of Boyzone; a high-school bully wears a T-shirt with the word “swag” on it and doesn’t immediately feel the need to start bullying himself; and the notion of making a gender-reversed Fatal Attraction 25 years after the fact is worthy of enthusiasm, rather than weary ridicule.
Also out this week
Still Alice Awards-showered Alzheimer’s drama with Julianne Moore.
Chappie Unlikely Die Antwoord-starring robo-blockbuster.
Focus Bland but glossy career resuscitator for Will Smith.
