Obsessed (2002) - Movie Review

Rating: 3 out of 5

A quarter century ago, John Badham was directing classics like Saturday Night Fever and WarGames. It's a tragedy, then, to find him directing made for TV movies these days -- for Lifetime, no less.

At least he's got the comely Jenna Elfman on his side in this true crime drama, which thank God is not nearly as horrible as you might be expecting. The pitch: He (Charles Powell) is a fancy pants doctor and says she's been stalking him mercilessly. She (Elfman) says they had a long-term relationship and she just got a little upset there at the end.

Is she in the right or she is totally nuts? Suffice it to say it's not an open and shut case, with a little deception from both sides of the fence. (A legal system that's appropriately revised for television helps keep things moving along, too.)

This is totally the kind of movie that works on TV and is tailor-made for commercial breaks and offers a guess-it-if-iyou-can ending. Badham, though, deserves credit for turning yet another "Long Island Lolita" story into a passable movie. Memo to Hollywood: Give John a real movie to direct. Please.

Facts and Figures

Year: 2002

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 3 / 5

Cast & Crew

Director: John Badham

Producer: Barbara Lieberman

Screenwriter: Matthew Tabak

Also starring: Jenna Elfman, Sam Robards, Kate Burton, Mark Camacho, Charles Powell, Barbara Lieberman, Matthew Tabak