Beyoncé Knowles has the perfect husband. And Ali Larter wants him. No, not Jay-Z; Idris Elba, B’s on screen beau in Screen Gems’ Obsessed, which opens today nationwide.
In this psychological thriller, Knowles plays Sharon Charles, the loyal wife to Elba’s Derek Charles, a recently promoted businessman in need of a short-term assistant after his regular assistant falls ill. Along comes Larter’s Lisa, who quickly becomes more temptress than office temp. But when Derek doesn’t bite, Lisa goes over the edge becoming increasingly more persistent and a whole lot crazier with every denial.
Though entertaining, this story has been told before. Fatal Attraction (Paramount, 1987) still reigns supreme in the “delusional chick meets married man” realm, but this 2009 variant by first time silver screen director Steve Shill is worth checking out. Knowles’ performance is surprisingly acceptable. In her first dramatic role not playing a singer— which she shines as in real life— B sits comfortably in the nook full-time actors Larter and Elba create for her. Best known for his performance as Russell “Stringer” Bell on HBO’s The Wire, Elba is stellar as an upstanding spouse while Larter, of NBC’s Heroes fame, is frighteningly believable as the psychotic Lisa. And then there’s the B vs. Ali clobbering, which alone is worth the price of admission.
The timing of Obsessed is spot on. As the summer blockbusters draw near, Obsessed is the perfect warm up to the season’s heavy hitters. Wolverine can’t claw at it and Scottie can’t beam it out of the universe. Ring the alarm. Knowles has a box office hit on her hands. At least for now.
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