[imdb tt1198138]Watching the trailer for Beyonce Knowles’ new film, Obsessed, is about par with snorting smarties. The film doesn’t look like anything worth seeing in the first place, so a hit off the trailer is just as worthwhile as going to see the movie itself. Especially since the preview shows the entirety of the plot, going so far as to show the ultimate reduction of the two female leads dissolving into an utter hair-pulling, claws-bared, teeth snapping girl fight. The only things the trailer doesn’t show are the paddling pool filled with chocolate pudding and Idris Elba sitting on the couch, shoveling popcorn into his mouth.
While I have now seen this trailer more than dozen times, I must say that I was tired of it halfway through the first viewing. The Fatal Attraction element of the film is revealed almost instantly. Fair enough; essentially it is what the movie is about. Then we see exactly how the formerly gap-toothed Heroes star insinuates herself into a scandal that shatters all of the hero’s credibility. Okay…usually that is a twist reserved to surprise the audience, but it’s also a very common plot point used in thrillers. They want the audience to empathize with the poor, misunderstood main character, so I guess that spoiler can be forgiven, also.
However (note the pause), I cannot, by any means, forgive showing the audience the sudden switch of protagonist from Elba to Knowles. Don’t change your trailer’s premise mid promo! I’m with Elba, for the first half. He’s obviously a middle-aged man, bored with his marriage and money, but we all can understand the yen for a little excitement in our lives. I am with him, mentally and emotionally, when this little voyeuristic indulgence gives off mixed signals and gets a little hinky. Against my will, I am still with him when the gorgeous cousin of Alex Forest (Glenn Close), entraps him in her spikey little web of deceit.
So, why on earth would you, as the trailer author, break that flow, that confidence and connection the audience has with the hero, to not only give away the exciting climax of the film, but also switch horses mid-stream and try to force us to start caring about what happens to this other character that has been hounding her husband throughout the trailer. How idiotic! I don’t care about Knowles’ character. You give us the film from strictly Elba’s point of view, set the wife up as a friction causing element, she is emasculating, jealous, suspicious, untrusting. So why would we, the audience, suddenly switch our loyalty. No don’t get me wrong, if the trailer was from Beyonce’s point of view, I’d be all for seeing little miss thang kicking some blonde bimbo ass; however, we see this world from Idris Elba’s point of view, so technically, we are supposed to want to side with him, through good and bad, or else there will be no point to sit through the two-hour film.
I know this seems like a small, tedious problem to have with the trailer, but the fact is, the story-telling of the trailer is downright shitty. It makes for a very messy view of the plot. I am slowly realizing that a lot of people do not watch movies for the same reasons or in the same manner that I watch them. Most people are not as demanding or critical as I am. However, I refuse to ignore glaring problems simply because everybody else will. There should be a set standard that trailers need to live up to, even if it is only in my mind.
P.s. Ali Larter may be smokin’, but that does not hide the fact that she walks like John Wayne.
Rating: 
