In Rob Cohen’s “The Boy Next Door,” Jennifer Lopez portrays high school English teacher, Claire Peterson, who wants to prove she’s more than the voluptuous Latina who’s often seen in various, derriere-displaying stages of undress.
So, when she isn’t letting peeping Toms take a peek at her supple, gravity-defying nakedness, J Lo is seen quoting Homer, Byron and Shakespeare—until she ends up in the muscular arms of her young and gorgeous next-door neighbor, Noah Sandborn (Ryan Guzman), who wants something more permanent than a one-night stand!
Jennifer Lopez
Things get creepier when Noah shows up at Claire’s literature class, mouthing lines from “The Iliad.” Unfortunately for him, Lopez dislikes teenage stalkers as much as misogynistic older men who call women who have an opinion “firecrackers.”
Guzman works hard to give his character a semblance of believability, but is weighed down by the film’s penchant for predictability and over-the-top shock tactics. You’ll have a hard time suspending disbelief that Lopez is playing a character other than herself.
In some scenes, you half expect Pitbull or Harry Connick Jr. to show up and sing “I Luh Ya Papi” with J Lo, as Claire’s overaged “students” perform a trendy dance routine around them!
‘Halik sa Hangin’
Even harder to “ingest and digest” is Emmanuel Palo’s visually compelling but emotionally barren “Halik sa Hangin”—an undercooked fusion of gothic romance and horror drama that is more annoying than terrifying. Like “The Boy Next Door,” it depicts a bizarre case of fatal attraction, this time with supernatural flourishes.
The film gets off to an auspicious start as it introduces how grief-stricken Mia Generoso (Julia Montes) finds soothing comfort in the arms of charming but mysterious Gio Brauner (Gerald Anderson).
Mia blames the new family of her mother (Ina Raymundo) for the death of her heartbroken father (Jett Pangan). She wants to move on—but, she has a difficult time appreciating (and reciprocating) the perpetual smile of hunky Alvin Paredes (JC de Vera), who doesn’t have Gio’s brooding intensity and flair for (morbid) poetry.
Moises Lee’s cinematography and Manny Morfe’s production design give the film the provocative atmosphere it needs, but Palo fails to imbue its supposedly sinister scenes with a convincingly palpable sense of eerie dread.
Julia can cry at the drop of a hat—but, her excessive (and exhaustive) whining takes the edge out of her earnestness.
It doesn’t help that most everything about the movie feels manufactured and fabricated—from its stilted romanticisn and self-contradictory lines to its hokey back stories and Gerald’s contrived characterization. But, Ina Raymundo and Jasmine Curtis-Smith are notable in short but crucial roles.
“Halik sa Hangin” delivers episodic chills—but, it’s hard to empathize with its frustratingly clueless protagonist, who blithely disregards the ominous writing on the wall and willingly puts her life at risk. —As they say, be careful what you wish for!