Box-Office Report: Audiences are “Obsessed” with Beyonce — So What’s With Her Bad Reviews?
The latest No. 1 movie (a huge $28 million opening weekend) to stink like rancid cheese is Obsessed, a ripoff of Fatal Attraction that will disappear next week in the flames of Wolverine. So why not let it die peacefully without my beating it with a stick? Beyoncé Knowles, that’s why. Reviews have been pretty tough on her. Here’s one: “When the world’s most overexposed woman finally realizes that she can’t act, the planet will be a better place.” Ouch! Some critics claim she ruined the movie. Oh No She Didn’t (an earlier and better title for the movie). The screenwriter and director did that. Beyoncé is the least of the problems possessed by Obsessed.
The only fun the movie offers is watching her go all Sasha Fierce on the crazy-ass white office assistant (Ali Larter) trying to steal her man (Idris Elba). You think you know crazy?” she shouts. “I’ll show you crazy. Try me, bitch!” And onto the catfight. Acting? Not by most definitions, but Beyoncé adds spirit to a movie that has only a desire to recycle clichés. And the audience is clearly buying what she has to sell.
The way I see it, Beyoncé has always handled herself well on screen. In 2002, Knowles played it for laughs (and got them) as Foxxy Cleopatra opposite Mike Myers in Austin Powers in Goldmember. OK, The Fighting Temptations, with Cuba Gooding, Jr., should have been titled Instantly Forgettable. But she showed skills acting (as well as singing) playing the less showy part (Jennifer Hudson had that one) in Dreamgirls. And last year, she aced it as sexy, sassy, druggy R&B singer Etta James in Cadillac Records, holding her own with Oscar winner Adrien Brody (hell, she was better than he was). So am I nuts to think that Beyoncé is shrewdly building a film career and has the talent to sustain it? Are you psyched to see her next move on the big screen or do you think she should just stick to singing?