Careful What You Wish For (2016)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

There was aspects to this film that I did enjoy such as the twist ending and that it was interesting to watch but I had so many beefs with it. Oh but kudos to his friend on being smart about getting evidence. People are often too dumb in movies. Lol What happened with the phones was no shocker. 1. OMG She had like NO personality. How rapidly they had sex seemed almost unbelievable for me BUT he was a teenage boy and she was a hot woman. Very pretty and seductive. Too skinny in my opinion. Lol2. Agh I was annoyed he didn't grab the purse and run. As soon as she walked in I knew she was in on it. So about the gf. Why the heck point out the murder in the first place? They weren't paying much attention and it was going as an accident. Why stir the pot? I only see it as making the story interesting and the plot twist. Unless I missed something. Yes there was the rent a cop but he had no proof and they weren't paying him much mind. 3. Sex behind the store. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? As entertaining and thrilling that was (the almost getting caught n milk (why was milk outside? Was that milk? Lol) not the sex itself but clearly he has an instant boner for her) they were outside. Wasn't just trees hiding them back there. There was the LAKE! They didn't exactly check to make sure the coast was clear. 😒Not a beef but my friend n I had a debate on why her gf was telling him all that in the cop car. I think it was part jealousy and part mocking him. In a way that he didn't know but she did and that was enough to give her some satisfaction. I guess in the end she cared about him somewhat and so would have the gf because she was driving and reversed back. Lol

This movie offers a chance for teen heartthrob Nick Jonas to show what he can do as an actor. In addition to that it allows him the chance to take off his shirt, a sight sure to please his fans. But as for bringing something new to the table in the way of movies it offers a tried and true formula rather than an inspired thriller. We've seen it before in one form or another and done better, so we know what to expect with each passing moment.Jonas plays Doug Martin, the teen son of a well to do couple who are once more spending their summer vacation at their cabin on the lake. Along with his best friend Carson (Graham Rogers) he intends to work at the local seafood restaurant owned by Sheriff Big Jack (Paul Sorvino), study and perhaps find someone to hook up with. All of that changes when the new neighbors move in.Watching from his bedroom window he is the first to see them, starting with the fetching Lena Harper (Isabel Lucas). Her husband Elliot (Dermot Mulroney) is a well to do self-made millionaire type, a cut throat at business and a natural competitor. The couple meet Doug and his family and soon become friendly enough.One day in a rainstorm Doug sees Lena stuck outside of the house signaling him to come over. She has locked herself out of the house and needs to get inside. Doug helps by breaking in a window and opening the door for her. She rewards him by seducing him and the two predictably become frequent lovers. Doug hides the fact from everyone, including Carson. It doesn't take long before Lena shows h bruises that she says were inflicted by Elliot. Doug tells her she needs to leave and she promises to talk to Elliot.Things change one night when Lena calls Doug over to find Elliot sprawled on the floor, his head smashed in. Lena tells him that he attacked her when she asked for a divorce and began beating her, that she was simply defending herself. She then tells him that no one will believe her and asks him to help her get rid of the body. Ruled by hormones of course he helps.Things take a turn for the worse (as if dead body disposal isn't bad enough) when an insurance investigator arrives who insists on looking into all possibilities before handing over a payment in the millions to Lena. Clues begin to surface and soon Doug is looking at the possibility of being convicted of the murder of Elliot. Is it misfortune or was he set up? If you've seen half a dozen of these thrillers you saw this coming early on.The film is well made, a quality production rather than a slapped together low budget flick. But the story feels more Lifetime channel movie than feature film. Jonas does a decent job in a role that has him portraying someone too blind to reality letting his late stage puberty do his thinking for him. His acting chops are stretched in no way to play this part. Lucas is an attractive lead who will go nowhere if she limits herself to roles where her exposed body parts are the only reason for getting a role. Mulroney seems to just walk through his part here and deserves better parts than this. Get a new agent Dermot! If those Lifetime movies entertain you then you're certain to enjoy this one. If you're a fan of Nick Jonas then you might be too young to watch certain aspects of this movie. Like most ex-Disney channel actors he seems to think a more "adult" role is the way to go. I tend to think taking acting lessons is a better route and accepting roles that require more than what is on display here would be a better method. But then I'm not a teen heartthrob with bopper fans clamoring for any and everything I am in. Not bad but nothing exciting either.

First, let me tell you that wishing for this movie to be good will be of no avail. There's no reason in hoping for a satisfying thriller like this one seems to claim, because doing so will only lead to a massive letdown.CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR's biggest flaw is neither its premise nor its narrative. There's a lot to negatively comment about those two areas, but they're still much more tolerable than the movie's horrible casting. None of the actors are able to serve the requirements of their roles, and while their characters hold promise of being interesting, none of the performers could actually pull them excellently, even to a tolerable level. Their dialogues and the overly familiar plot, are partly to blame, but it so difficult to jump to that part when the first thing that can be noticed is the horrible designation of the actors to roles utterly unsuited for them. There's this evil psychopath named Elliot who never really brings as much threat as he is required. Letting Isabel Lucas play a role that doesn't fit her age is perhaps the biggest mistake in the casting. Even with her capacity fully stretched, Lucas is never able to get halfway meeting all the demands of her character. Her character, Lena, is supposed to be a devious and cunning femme fatale, Isabel Lucas is plain boring. Almost the same can be said with Nick Jonas, although it's really hard to say his role's totally garbage, when almost half the time he's confused and waiting for a good line to throw. If it's any consolation, there's a lot of skin shown here, and I'm pretty sure Nick's fans as well as Isabel's will be pleased. Other than that, there's really nothing to expect.It is really difficult to follow the narrative's flow when all that worries you is whether the characters are still going to be something interesting or not. The plot isn't new either, and it still could have been interesting, if the characters are played the way they're supposed to be. These flaws accrue to an overall feeling that is neither good nor okay, much less satisfying. Albeit cliché, CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR could have been an enjoyable experience. There is so much to mine in its premise, but its terrible casting paralyzes the movie and made itself incapable of digging such potential. The result is an overwhelming sense of dissatisfaction.

'Careful What You Wish For' was never going to be an Oscar worthy, genre defining, boundary leaping film however for what it is trying to be, which is an easy going, enjoyable and suspenseful piece of drama, it does very well. The storyline and plot my perhaps leave something to be desired but having said that this viewer was taken for the ride with all the twists and turns that were thrown at the audience. For the most part the acting was strong, especially considering the calibre of the actors and the relatively little previous work they have done in the industry. My main criticism would be that there were moments where the focus seemed to be more on moving the plot forward without first establishing the necessary character development to make us fully care what happens to the characters.Overall an enjoyable flick so long as you go into it expecting the next big thing, and don't try and analyse every detail but just sit back, relax and don't take it too seriously.