Addicted (2014) Reviews

• A movie with a lot of problems

  richard-17872015-03-07

  This movie has a lot of problems. Briefly, it's the story of a young professional woman, Zoe, with a husband, Jason, who would be every woman's - and some men's - wet dream. He has a perfect, muscled body, a smile that could melt an iceberg, and he even washes the dishes. They have sex 2 or 3 times a day. Not a week, a day. But it isn't enough for her. She wants more. But more of what? That's one of the problems with this movie. There is a lot of sex in it, though none of it shocking by modern movie standards. But for all the sex, we still have to guess at what Zoe wants. Is it yet more sex? Different sex? Kinkier sex? Is this a distant cousin to *Fifty Shades of Grey* that dares not speak of its desires? Zoe hooks up with an unsubtle but muscled white painter - who, in my eyes, has no talent - and has with him what looks like pretty much the same sort of sex she had been having with her husband. Then she hooks up with a messenger on a motorcycle. Their sex, though no doubt wonderful, looks pretty much the same as what she is having with the other two men, though it usually takes place on a table. In between all this, Zoe ignores her children and lets her work go down the drain. She is, we are to believe, a sex addict. That's the first problem. Zoe comes across as insatiable, but not really addicted. She only has men who are so astoundingly handsome/sexy that they would tempt all but the most virtuous. Yet if this movie had been called *Insatiable*, she would have come across as a harlot rather than a sick individual to be pitied, and would have lost the sympathies of the intended audience of well-meaning 20-40 something women. If she were actually addicted to sex, she would have had sex with anyone, and that is not the case. She is only attracted to the hottest men. The second problem is that her poor husband, Jason, evidently detects nothing once Zoe is unfaithful to him - daily. When he does finally learn he's unhappy, of course, but we know so little about him, he's so poorly developed, that we still can't sympathize with him, though he is the potentially most sympathetic character in the movie. These actors could probably all have done a lot better if they had been given a script that had developed characters and not just cardboard cut-outs. As it is, we get to watch a lot of evidently passionate sex performed by beautiful bodies, and then at the end have to listen to a few lectures on sexual addiction, which don't come across as very convincing. Zoe's particular case is never explored, so it's hard to believe in it or feel for her. Zoe's sexual problems with Jason needed to be made clearer. How was he failing her? Jason needs to have been given a character; it's not enough for him just to look great. The script just doesn't make any of the characters interesting and sympathetic, and that's fatal here.

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• Boring, dry, not a thriller,

  belydinh2014-10-15

  I would not recommend this movie to anyone unless you are interested in adult films or Porn, The story line was predictable, cliché and BORING. The movie has no excitement, the plot was simple, and not a thriller by far, the only good thing about this movie was how "Good- looking" the actors were. Many of the sex scenes were not needed...the main character is obviously sick.. the movie magnify how the main character is struggling with her addiction.. by showing her abuse the addiction over and over and over... The plot do not move beyond the point. Its like watching an obese person suffer from over eating... we have established that point..can we move on now... but the movie continue to revolve around the obsession of the addiction... which in returns bore the viewers because they are watching the same actions happen repeatedly... over and over and over again.. its like watching a 3 minute video clip over and over and over again... The plot do not expand to any dimension.. it is as flat and dry as bread... with NO BUTTER

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• nope nope nope.

  freetobemeeva2014-10-12

  When I first saw that there was a movie coming out, I was excited and apprehensive at the same time. I've come to accept "Based on the book/novel/bestseller/etc" as a disclaimer that if you have read the book you should probably expect the movie to be LOOSELY based, with kudos given to movies who stick to the book while keeping the cinematic liberties to a minimum. But boy oh boy does this adaptation go waaaaay beyond taking liberties. Except for the characters and very few key scenes, this could have been a totally unrelated movie. Without giving away any spoilers, basically the main character is addicted to sex, so you would think that there would be a whole lot of exposition, especially with the back drop being dialogue between the main character and a therapist. But okay, let's say you haven't read the book, or it's been a while since you have. There's so much missing as to why this woman has an addiction to sex. Why does she cheat? Why should we care that she cheats? She's painted as this spoiled and deprived woman who you don't feel sorry for,( when, in the book, there's actually a lot that went on in her past that affects her present.) There's no examination of the main character and the relationships she has. This movie was an hour and 45 minutes. I could have maybe dealt with the other stuff that wasn't included if there was a portion devoted to her past and not the 2 and half second flashback and 1 sentence literally at the end of the movie where we're just supposed to go, "oh, it all makes sense now", and walk out satisfied. While Addicted was erotic fiction, it still kept you on the edge of your seat because you wanted to find out what happened next. I couldn't put it down. All the movie did was show some soft core sex scenes, some violence, and then it hopped skipped and jumped to the end. If you've read the book, this isn't worth your time or money. And if you haven't, well you've been warned. Wait til it comes out on cable. It's a shame too, the cast was really let down.

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• Worst movie I have ever seen, walked out.

  sballard-145-3229462014-10-28

  I love movies and never walk out. I walked out of this one after sitting through a painful 40 minutes or so. It is hideously awful in every way: terrible script (written by idiotic middle school kids?), god-awful, idiotic acting and directing. It was boring to boot, even though it was supposed to be about sex addiction, and it was supposed to have beautiful people in it. It wasn't even good as porn. Actual porn is far better, even as non-porn, than this. The leading actress was not beautiful, or believable in any way. None of the actors had any credibility nor did they rescue any part of the incomprehensibly stupid script so as to make any moment seem even vaguely possible or real. Was everyone associated with this "film" a complete idiot with an IQ below 80?

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• VIEWS ON FILM review of Addicted

  burlesonjesse52014-10-28

  Addicted is essentially an uneven facade that in one instance, poses as softcore porn and in another instance, becomes a documented, public service announcement for sex addiction. It's a slick, trashy, yet mildly entertaining soap opera of a movie that unbeknownst to me, goes completely off the rails in its final half hour. Directed by the guy who made Honey (2003) and Beauty Shop (2005) and based on a best selling novel of the same name, Addicted is like a carbon copy of 2002's Unfaithful. But where Unfaithful had a murder and a sored cover-up to that murder, this limited October release has a silly, kill-free twist at the end (I'm not gonna count a failed suicide as murder in case you're keeping score). It also has many more love scenes in it than Unfaithful not to mention a main character that ends up having more than just one affair. The story begins with stunning, happily married businesswoman Zoe Reynard (played by Sharon Leal). She has the perfect life. She has two great kids, a husband who thinks the world of her, a loving, caring mother who lives with her (and is quite tolerable), and a beautiful home via the outskirts of Atlanta, GA. But wait a minute, her perfect husband isn't fulfilling her everyday needs (sexually that is). He's never around and is always working. Her solution: have a series of romantic trysts with a well revered painter (Quinton Canosa played by William Levy) and a womanizing club hopper (Corey played with minimal dialogue by Tyson Beckford). This leads to her addiction by which she literally ruins her career, fractures her family values, is forced to see a shrink, and decides in anguish, to (spoiler alert) commit freeway suicide. As mentioned earlier, Addicted walks a fine line between glamorizing sexuality and reiterating a certain sickness. As a result, the proceedings are choppy and disjointed despite a surprisingly good level of unpredictability. Really in truth, this vehicle is almost saved by Sharon Leal. She gives a solid, realistically grim performance in the lead role as Addicted's disturbed test subject. As for the rest of the cast, they are comprised of mostly good looking people who's acting is not as seething or as sharp. In conclusion, this is a poster child for the effects of sex addiction and to be honest, it's not really about infidelity. Addicted in its 106 minute running time, makes two mistakes: it turns a character (Levy's Canosa) who doesn't really seem menacing enough, and makes him psychotic. The second mistake is that this thing climbs too close to becoming a therapeutic healing session for a specific audience (people that go to support groups for sex addiction or don't bother to get help at all for said addiction). And as the plot thickens, it feels less like an actual film going experience and more like a hidden cry for help. Bottom line: Addicted as a drama/thriller, may offer a certain kind of appeal. But for me, it just wasn't that "addicting".

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