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Josh Hartnett, age —“Trap,” “Lucky Number Slevin,” “30 Days of Night,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Wicker Park” • Faith: Unknown, raised in Christianity (Roman Catholicism) • Worldview: Progressive Liberalism (activist) • Reviews
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The Boy Next Door

MPA Rating: R-Rating (MPA)

for violence, sexual content/nudity and language.

Moral Rating:	Very Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:	Adults
Genre:	Psychological Suspense Thriller Drama
Length:	1 hr. 31 min.
Year of Release:	2015
USA Release:	January 23, 2015 (wide—2,500+ theaters) DVD: April 28, 2015

Relevant Issues

PURITY—Should I save sex for marriage? Answer

lust and fornication in the Bible

How can I deal with temptations? Answer

Learn how to make your love the best it can be. Christian answers to questions about sex, marriage, sexual addictions, and more. Valuable resources for Christian couples, singles and pastors.

divorce in the Bible

DIVORCE—Under what conditions may Christians divorce and remarry? Answer

Featuring	Jennifer Lopez … Claire Peterson Ryan Guzman … Noah Sandborn Kristin Chenoweth … John Corbett … Bailey Chase … Benny Ian Nelson … Kevin See all » Lexi Atkins … Allie Cambridge Travis Schuldt … Ethan Adam Hicks … Hill Harper … Raquel Gardner … Elissa Sandborn Kari Perdue … Allie’s Friend Jack Wallace … Mr. Sandborn Brandon Rush … Paramedic Brian Mahoney … Couper Kent Avenido … Mr. Avenido Chad Bullard … Stooge #1 Chillie Mo … Forrest Hoffman … Stooge #2
Director	Rob Cohen — “Alex Cross” (2012), “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (2008)
Producer	Smart Entertainment Blumhouse Productions See all » Nuyorican Productions Universal Pictures
Distributor	Universal Pictures

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “A divorced woman falls in love with the young man who moves in to the street and befriends her son. She then discovers that he has a dark secret. Trouble ensues when she tries to abruptly end the relationship. He doesn’t let go so easily. Jennifer Lopez leads the cast that explores an attraction that goes much too far.”

Sex: Very Heavy— • heterosexual sex (repeated) • apparent oral sex (repeated) • groping • numerous sexual comments, innuendos and double entendres • etc.
Nudity: Very Heavy— • fully nude young man and young woman • bare breasts (repeatedly) • lots of female skin displayed thoughout film • nude young man (audience sees back view and chest front chest) • woman in bra and panties only • camisole-like top obviously worn without a bra • man ogling woman’s body and woman ogling man’s
Vulgar/Crude language: Very Heavy— • f-words (more than 12), incl. “I f***ed Claire Peterson,” What a f***ing whore you are,” “dirty f***ing c*nt” • “give him head” • scr*w • p*ssy • c*nt • “our little p*nis purse” • c*ck • s-words (several) • a**
Violence: Very Heavy— includes bloody scenes
Profane language: Heavy— • G*d d*mn • Oh my G*d (dozen) • G*d (5) • h*ll • d*mn

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

Negative
Critics
Non-viewer comments

Negative

Negative—So many things morally wrong with this movie, I’m not sure where to begin. Included are extra marital sex and affairs, nudity, extreme violence, murder, and the list goes on. As a Follower of Christ this is just not one that should have been viewed.

The biggest things for me on this movie, outside the violence and sex, is the low family values this movie puts forth. Very disappointed with Ms. Lopez for making such a film. There is little here for a believer in Christ, as it flies in the face of everything our Lord teaches.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3

Scott, age 44 (Canada)

Negative— I wanted to like this movie, since I’ve always been a Jennifer Lopez fan, and while Jennifer Lopez and Lexi Atkins were both beautiful in this film, and Jennifer Lopez’s acting was superb—the overall plot and storyline was corny and unoriginal, nothing special…
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3½

Jeff Andrew Winters, age 41 (USA)

Movie Critics

…Hundreds of people had a hand in creating this mistake. And as a reviewer forced to watch the result, all I can hope is that they’ve now learned their lesson and don’t ever repeat it. …

Paul Asay, Plugged In

…As torrid affairs gone wrong go, this one’s not juicy enough and way too predictable… Noah quickly turns into a one-note character—the note being “pathological.” …

Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

…A bloody, dull attraction… This isn’t a very demanding role for Lopez, but she still fails to carry it off. In fact, nothing about this film is convincing. It all feels notably artificial. …[1/4]

David Hiltbrand, The Philadelphia Inquirer

…Jennifer Lopez, never much of an actress and best suited to the rom-coms, can’t manage a thriller… even one as lazy and predictable as “The Boy Next Door” …[1½/4]

Linda Barnard, The Toronto Star

…Unintended laughs far, far outnumber intended thrills as Jennifer Lopez—playing the hottest and dumbest high school teacher in America… New low for J.Lo. … [1/4]

Lou Lumenick, New York Post

…marred by excessive sex, nudity and violence, and a disturbing story with underdeveloped characters and a formulaic, rather abrupt ending. …

Ted Baehr, Movieguide

Comments from non-viewers

Negative—I’m not surprised this movie isn’t viewed, I wouldn’t want to spend $ and view it either. If you have seen the trailer or read the plot, then you’d know this would be a dirty unclean movie to view. I don’t have to see the movie to get the info on this trash. The trailer and plot showed is a needy cougar single (divorced) mom who feels attractive to a high school boy, and has sex with him and the poisonous relationship continues and gets scary as he becomes obsessed with her and starts blackmailing, and then you know something happens to crazy HS boy in the end.

Seriously people, you know what is right and wrong, you don’t need to watch a movie like this for you to make that decision. This is a twisted horny movie, and it’s wrong to have …sex before marriage, BDSM/S&M sex (by the way, boycott seeing “50 Shades of Grey”—not a love story at all, it’s sexual bondage and violence and degrading to women—NOT REAL GODLY LOVE AT ALL).

Sex is a sacred gift from God to married couples to give life (having a baby). Hollywood likes to twist and poison people’s minds to make them think that sex is great, hot and steamy and sell off actors as sex objects for sales for their acting and body. Way better off watching decent clean chick flick or thriller, instead watching these tramp cr** films.

Anna, age 22 (USA)

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in Christian Spotlight reviews are those of the reviewers themselves, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Christian Answers.

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